Jacob's Ladder
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Jacobsladder.JPG
Jacobsladder.JPG
A homemade Jacob's ladder with an electric arc.
The original Jacob's Ladder was the biblical ladder to heaven on which Jacob saw angels ascending and descending.
The term has been used metaphorically or as a direct reference in titles:
- A 1990 movie of the same name
- An opera of the same name (Die Jakobsleiter in German) by Arnold Schoenberg
- The spiritual "We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder"
- A song on the album Readymades by Chumbawamba. Another version of it is also available for free download at their website (http://www.chumbawamba.tv) - this version criticizes the USA's response to the September 11, 2001 attacks.
- A song on the album Fore! by Huey Lewis and the News
- A song on the album Permanent Waves by Rush
It has also been used to describe many ladders or vaguely ladder-like objects:
- In a nautical context, a Jacob's ladder (with a lower-case "l") is a flexible hanging ladder consisting of vertical ropes or chains supporting horizontal wooden or metal rungs.Missing image
NauticalJacobsLadder.jpgA USN petty officer uses the Jacob's ladder of an Iranian cargo ship during a maritime interdiction operation in the Persian Gulf. - A genus of plants, Polemonium in the family Polemoniaceae
- A string figure created as part of a children's game. See Jacob's Ladder at http://www.darsie.net/string/jacob.html
- A folk toy consisting of blocks on strings that, when held at one end, appear to cascade down the strings
- One form of a spark gap, specifically an electronic rack that causes dramatic electric arcing, often seen in movies about mad scientists
- A type of body piercing
- Another name for the Abscess root plant
- An old Indian, and then pioneer, trail between the Connecticut and Hudson rivers, rebuilt in 1910 as the first highway for the horseless carriage
- A staircase cut into the side of the Cheddar Gorge in southwest England
- A staircase of 699 steps cut into the side of the rocky cliffs on the west side of the capital of St. Helena
- The steepest portion of the Mount Washington Cog Railway
- A 100-step climb near Devil's Bridge, Wales[1] (http://www.narrow-gauge-pleasure.co.uk/rlyrheidol.html)[2] (http://www.cardiganshirecoastandcountry.com/rheidol.htm)[3] (http://www.pumlumon.org.uk/map/map.php?lang=eng&page=pla_8)
- A schedule diagram used by movie theatres displaying all the relevant information needed for use by staff (such as movie titles, locations, ratings, lenghth, starting and ending times, and theatre capacity) in a grid format.