A business card that falls apart: design meets physics

What the experiment shows

A 90×50 mm card layout is cut into 32 tiles. Each tile is a masked group with a physics body, so on Run the card falls into pieces that keep their part of the artwork.

How to run it

1. Look at the finished layout, then press “Run”.
2. In the editor select a tile and change its mass, friction or bounce — the pieces behave differently.
3. Edit the name and contacts, or draw your own card with AI and cut it the same way.

Questions to discuss

• Why do the tiles scatter even though they drop from the same height?
• What changes if the tiles are heavier or bouncy like rubber?

The science

All tiles fall with the same acceleration, but they start with different speeds and spin and exchange momentum when they hit the floor and each other. That is why the pattern breaks up unpredictably.

Try it at home

Cut an old business card into pieces, toss them over a table and watch how they land.

What to change in the editor

• Set the tiles’ bounce to zero — they settle in a heap.
• Make the bottom row static to leave a “base” of the card.