# Has anyone actually tested the book stacking problem with a lot (at least 50) books/playing cards/blocks of wood?

....And does anyone have a picture or video to prove it?

https://mathworld.wolfram.com/BookStackingProblem.html

I like seeing experiments in real life because Maths and Physics is so theoretical. I guess I could try myself, but it's difficult with imperfect playing cards (all my card decks have some cards with bent edges) and I don't have blocks of 50 flat pieces of wood of exactly the same size lying around. Obviously no experiment will be perfect, but I think someone with flat and same-size materials can replicate the theoretical experiment, and it would be aesthetically impressive.

I found a picture with 11 blocks, but the more blocks, the more impressive imo.

• I think you'd be quite disappoited by pictures showing more than the 11 blocks you have linked. The building process will not extend at the top and go way further over, but extend at the bottom, where the blocks are already almost vertically stacked. So the tower will only be higher and slightly further over. – noah Apr 28 at 22:37
• Once the COM of the blocks is past the edge of the table they will fall – Adrian Howard Apr 28 at 22:46
• In response to both comments, I don't necessarily require them to be over the edge of a table. I guess "impressive" is subjective. Nevertheless, something like this would be impressive to me: mathworld.wolfram.com/images/eps-gif/BookStackingCards_875.gif This would be way cooler than the $11$ blocks imo. – Adam Rubinson Apr 28 at 22:51
• @AdrianHoward What do you mean? An ideal stack can extend indefinitely, as explained in the MathWorld link. – PM 2Ring Apr 28 at 23:50
• It's really hard to build a tall stack that extends to its theoretical maximum. And if you make one of those boring low steps a bit too large, you may not notice the impact until you get near the top. IMHO, it's more fun building coin towers. I raytraced that one, but I've built similar towers with actual coins. ;) – PM 2Ring Apr 29 at 0:01