LASER Pointers + Diffraction Grating
Need a laser pointer? Incredibly, you can get 3 (one of each color) for under $20 (including S&H):
From Amazon: BUY NOW Red+Green+Purple Laser Pointer
Rainbow Symphony has a nice selection of diffraction gratings and sun catchers:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Diffraction Grating Toys
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
LASER Pointers + Diffraction Grating: three frequencies of laser pointer- Red (635 nm), Green (532 nm), and Blue (450 nm). Note that the distance between the intensity maxima (bright spots) is greatest for the red (long wavelength) and closest for blue (shortest wavelength) with the green in between. The diffraction grating is the same form as one of those rainbow fireworks glasses- this one from has 13500 lines per inch.
Precision Doodle Top
This unique doodle top availabe here:
From Mabro Toys: BUY NOW: Pencil Tipped Top
Similar tops available here:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Doodle Tops
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Precision Doodle Top: a sharpened pencil lead serves as the point of this wooden spinning top and records the path of contact revealing the intricacies of its precession and motion as friction slows the system down.
Dot Animation Card
Five animations to choose from- collect them all!
From Art fo Play: BUY NOW: Dot Animation Cards
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Dot Animation Cards: a unique version of barrier-grid (kinegram) animation where a matrix of holes allows only some of the dots on the covered card to show in succession producing the appearance of motion. In this clever design rotating the card with dots by 180 degrees reveals a second animation. Affordable kinetic art by Shigeki Naito that plays on the psychophysics of vision.
Heart Hologram Specs
Similar glases available here:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Heart Hologram Specs
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
I ❤️ Holograms: put on these specs and every source of light gets a holographic image of a heart overlaid- in this case a candle flame and a dot from a red laser. Usually these kind of images need a point source of light, whereas these glasses put a heart image on every light- but they also make everything else a bit blurry! The "lenses" in these glasses are actually transmission holograms with the image located at the farthest point in the depth of field.
Giant Newton's Cradle
This industrial grade museum quality device available here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Giant Newton's Cradle
Regular sized Newton's cradles availabe here:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Newton's Cradle
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Newton's Cradle: industrial model made with galvanized aircraft cable, aircraft aluminum for the frame, and 1.5 inch one-half pound nickel plated chrome steel spheres. (0.23 kg and 3.8cm in diameter each) The classic demonstration that shows the curious behavior due to conservation of both momentum and kinetic energy. Swipe to see comparison to standard version.
Interception Collision Toy
This device was marketed in the 1970s by Scienctific Demonstrators Inc. of Eugene Oregon. These vintage devices can often be found on eBay:
Interception Collision Toy: a challenging coffee table game- set pendulum 1 in motion and then swing pendulum 2 such that they collide with pendulum 1 striking the bell. Physics of 2D momentum conservation. Made in 1970, one of five devices sold by Scientific Demonstrators Inc.
More toys with momentum conservation here: Collision Toys
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Chil Balance Sculpture
This elegant design comes ready to assemble in your choice of four colors:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Chil Balance Bird
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Chil Balance Sculpture: the mass and orientation of the wings creates a center of mass below this sleek bird's beak- making a system that will rotate and oscillate about a stable equilibrium. No magnets! An elegant sculpture by artist Bin Xu of BinDesign that comes ready to assemble complete with stand,
Vintage Selenium Light Meter
These vintage GE light meters are often avaialble on eBay:
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Vintage Selenium Light Meter: selenium metal has a remarkable property- when exposed to light it will generate a small electric current. This General Electric light meter, made in 1930 with classic Bakelite case, still works and needs no battery. The selenium metal cell is directly connected to an ammeter which is calibrated to read out illuminance in units of footcandles (1 lumin per square foot). Here we see that the readout does depend on how much area of the selenium is exposed to light, and that light from a laser pointer can deflect the needle as well. Selenium was the first substance to be discovered to have photovoltaic properties, and is still used in some modern types of solar cell technology.
Hoberman Actuator with Sphere
The Actuator mechanism is out of production but can still be found on eBay, comes with power supply, Expandagon kit, and connecotors that snap on to a Hoberman Sphere
The spheres are still in production and come in various sizes and colors:
From Amazon: BUY NOW Hoberman Spheres
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Hoberman Actuator with Sphere: This actuator mechanism creates kinetic art out of a Hoberman sphere, designed to smoothly expand and contract the isokinentic structure. The Hoberman sphere itself is a special assembly of foldable linkages consisting of rigid bars and simple hinges is kinematically over constrained- motion can only occur along the radial direction and the movement of any hinge creates motion in all the joints. The engineering and physics behind deployable space structures!
Dual Axes Thaumatrope
This thaumatrope is part of Mark Setteducati's WOW Science kits produced in the 1990's.
Often available here:
From Amazon: BUY NOW WOW Science Kit
Click here to see the Bird and Cage Thaumatrope
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Dual Axes Thaumatrope: spin along one axis and the magician says “wow” and the professor says “how”, rotate 90 degrees to the second axis and by a clever use of symmetry what each says is swapped! From the WOW Science magic kit series by Mark Setteducati. The thaumatrope toy was invented in 1824 and employs the physics and psychophysics of vision where still images flashed in rapid succession produces a combined image through persistence of vision. When the image flash rate is above the flicker fusion frequency (approximately 16Hz) we perceive fluid motion- the basis for all movies and TV.
Tree & Mushroom Top Set
From Art of Play: BUY NOW: Woodland Top Set
See other flip over tops here: Tippe-Tops
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Tree and Mushroom Top Set: a whimsical woodland scene with two surprises- a flip-over tippe-top (mushroom) and a conical Tree shaped top that is more stable spinning on its trunk than its top. This set is made in Austria and comes with a branch wood stand.
Gifeez: Modern Phenakistiscope
This amazing toy for under $10:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Gifeez Animation Toy
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Gifeez: a modern zoetrope type device with built in strobe light to explore the physics and psychophysics of motion animation- still images flashed in rapid succession produces the illusion of motion through persistence of vision. This inexpensive device has two modes: 1) the strobe frequency is set to various ratios of the spin frequency creating fascinating motion of abstract geometrical images, and 2) the strobe is set to animate simple cartoons. When the image flash rate is above the flicker fusion frequency (approximately 16Hz) we perceive fluid motion- the basis for all movies and TV. This device includes a centripetal switch that turns on the strobe and a motor that keeps the disk spinning for a couple minutes and comes with 15 printed double sided disks and a few blanks to allow for your own designs.
Rheoscopic Planet
Avalable in five colors! Get one here:
From Mr. Sci (Science Factory): Rheoscopic Planet
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Rheoscopic Planet: this example of fluid flow kinetic art uses rheoscopic fluid encased in flexible bubble of plastic to reveal the intricate motion of turbulence. A suspension of tiny flat mica crystals tend to align themselves at the boundaries where the fluid is moving comparatively faster or slower, making the typically invisible flow patterns visible. Another unique science toy from @mrscisciencefactory
Pocket Scintillator Kinetic Art
Logan sometimes has items for sale here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: PocketScintillators
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Pocket Scintillator Card: three sheets of seemingly random arrays of translucent colored pixels produce words and images when stacked- shift the stack of sheets and a second images appears! Innovative kinetic optical art by inventor, artist, software developer Logan Kerby @thanksplease who kindly sent me these cards encoded with @physicsfun themes.
WindGyro
Get one here!
From Educational Innovations: BUY NOW: WindGyro
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
WindGyro: Spin this top up with a puff of air! Small magnets keep the top secured to the base so that a stream of air will induce rotation as the air flows through the engineered turbine blades of the elegant spiral structure.
1 Light-Nanosecond Ruler
This device came in my Curiosity Box subscrition. A great way to start collecting your own physics toys (and other brain food):
From the Vsauce team: BUY NOW: The Curiosity Box
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
The Curiosity Box is an excellent way to start your own physics toy collection- reccomended highly!
1 Light-Nanosecond Ruler: the speed of light is a universal physical constant and the basis of this ruler, made 29.98cm in length and equal to the distance light travels in one billionth of a second. This amazing ruler, marked off in increments of 10 light-picoseconds, was created by Michael Stevens and came to me in @thecuriositybox by Vsauce last month. The photons of light from the “Inq the Octopus” enamel pin take approximately 1 nanosecond to reach the sensors in my digital camera, or 1.4 nanoseconds if we look through the acrylic of the ruler, since acrylic has a refractive index of n=1.4. Air has a refractive index of 1.00029 so technically it takes 1.00029 nanoseconds for light to traverse this distance if we are not using our ruler in a vacuum. The five other edges of this ruler are marked with the folowing scales: cm, decimal inches, sound microseconds, micro-Mt.Everests, and beard-fortnights.
Rolling Marble Sculpture
Similar innovative rolling ball sculptures available here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Marble Machine
From Etsy: BUY NOW: 3D Printed Marble Runs
See more (miniture) marble runs here: Marble Run Fun
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Rolling Marble Sculpture: marbles perform gymnastics as potential energy of gravity is converted to kinetic energy. An elegantly designed auger conveyor, an Archimedes' Screw, brings the marbles back to the top (powered by an AA battery and a small motor). Conservation of angular momentum produces a simulation of decaying orbits as the marbles whirl down the the main funnel shaped feature.
Tapered Mirrors Kaleidoscope
Get a similar and affordable tapered kaleidocsope here:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Pyramidion Kaleidosphere
For the enthusiast- some of the best on the market:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Fine Art Kaleidoscopes
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Tapered Mirrors Kaleidoscope: the design of this teleidoscope uses three mirrors to create an image of a geodesic sphere. A blue laser pointer reveals some of the complexity of the repeated reflections. Three mirrors in an equilateral triangle configuration will produce a plane of tiled triangles, but if they are tapered the repeated reflections curve to infinity creating the sphere. I found this interesting teleidoscope on eBay a year or so ago- artist unknown. Invented by the famous Scottish physicist Sir David Brewster (1781-1868), the kaleidoscope is an ultimate physics toy and entire field of artistic endeavor.