What to watch
- The outer block cells remain stable.
- The two inner corner cells blink on and off.
- It helps explain how catalysts can stay mostly intact while influencing a reaction.
Oscillators
Beacon
Two blocks that repeatedly switch their touching corner cells.
The beacon is a clear bridge between stable still lifes and oscillators: two stable blocks are placed close enough that the corner interaction becomes periodic.
- Category
- Oscillators
- Period
- 2
- Movement
- bounded
- Population
- 8 cells
- Bounding box
- 4 x 4
- Known since
- 1970
How to use it
Use it to introduce local interaction between otherwise stable objects.
Compare this pattern with its family
Open the pattern in the lab, reduce the speed, and use single-step mode when a phase change is hard to see. The green preview marks births in the next generation; red outlines mark live cells that will die.
Next experiments
Compare nearby patterns
Move between similar structures to see which facts change: box size, lifespan, extinction, motion, and final ash.
Blinker
The smallest oscillator, flipping between vertical and horizontal lines.
- Size
- 3 x 3
- Lifespan
- 2
Toad
A period-2 oscillator made from two offset rows of three cells.
- Size
- 4 x 2
- Lifespan
- 2
Pulsar
A large period-3 oscillator with strong fourfold symmetry.
- Size
- 13 x 13
- Lifespan
- 3
Pentadecathlon
A slim oscillator with a much longer cycle than its size suggests.
- Size
- 3 x 10
- Lifespan
- 15