Kitty Cat Fireworks Lamp
Variations (bear, spaceman) avaialable from these sources:
From Etsy: BUY NOW Fireworks Infinity Lamps
From Amazon: BUY NOW Fireworks Infinity Lamps
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
The Kitty Cat Lamp I found: here
Kitty Cat Fireworks Lamp: illusion of depth from multiple refections. This glass cat sculpture is partially coated inside and out with a thin metal layer. The metal layer is made thinner in a pattern of small circles and stars to produce iridescent colors through thin-film interference effects. When lit from within by white LEDs, multiple reflections on the curved contour of the glass creates the firework like spray of light and color.
Gear Ball
Get the print files here:
From Thangs: Download Now: Gear Ball
Or get one printed in the color(s) of your choice:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Gear Ball
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Gear Ball: another amazing gear assembly with an abstract geometry that would be very hard to make without 3D printing with four large and four small conical cogs. A super fun creation by maker/designer Ruven Bals.
Drinking Giraffe Heat Engine:
This giraff version is hard to find, however the famous bird physics toy is available from these sources:
From Educational Innovations: BUY NOW: Drinking Bird Engine
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Drinking Bird Engine
See aslo: Drinking Dino
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Drinking Giraffe Heat Engine: a rare vintage version of the famous drinking bird heat engine- but in the form of a long necked mammal! With four legs instead of two the physics is the same- cooling by evaporation at the head leads to lower pressure in the top bulb such that the volatile fluid rises up the neck making the giraffe’s neck top heavy and the critter tips over dipping its face in the water and letting the fluid return to the bottom bulb. The process repeats as long as the top stays wet. The vintage packaging (made in Taiwan from the 1970s) identifies the liquid as trichloro monofluoro methane with red dye.
Happy/Sad Spheres
Get a set here:
From Educational Innovations: BUY NOW: Happy/Sad Balls
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Happy/Sad Spheres: one ball bounces the other stops dead. The bouncy ball is made of neoprene rubber and exhibits high elasticity. The "sad" ball is made of polynorbornene and converts almost all kinetic energy into heat and sound- approximating/demonstrating the case of a completely inelastic collision. Polynorbrene is used in vehicle bumpers, for soundproofing, vibration damping, and other applications where recoil motion is unwanted.
No Prior Art Holospex: light bulbs!
Get these inspirational glasses here:
From LA Central Library gift shop: BUY NOW: Light Bulb Idea Holospex Glasses
Learn more about the No Prior Art Exhibit in the Getty Galery of the at the LA Central Library featuring toys from my @physicsfun collection.
Bright Idea Holospex: a physics toy souvenir from the “No Prior Art” exhibit currently in the Getty Gallery of the Los Angeles Central Library @lapubliclibrary - Put on these glasses and see 💡 on the top and bottom of every point source of light, as well as some sparkling spectral lines - be inspired! An exclusive design only available for this special exhibition that celebrates creativity and invention, and features on display many toys from my @physicsfun collection! The “lenses” in these glasses are actually transmission holograms but with the image located at the farthest point in the depth of field. Laser pointer dots create very clear images as well!
Electric Motor/Generator
Amazingly this motor is available for less than $10 US.
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Brushless Motor/Generator with LED
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Electric Motor/Generator: this inexpensive and common motor can also serve as a generator of AC electricity- here lightning an LED when the shaft of the rotor is spun by hand. Most electrical energy we use today is produced by moving a magnet near a coil of wire (known as Faraday’s law of induction) to produce an electric current. Removing the permanent magnet casing reveals this design to use 9 separate copper windings. I made a transparent second rotor with six neodymium magnets- and when these magnets are made to move near the windings the LED again lights with the flow of current.
Thermochromic Pencils
Visit the exploratorium: see some of my favorite exhbits here
Get similar pencils here: Thermochromic Pencils
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Themochromic Pencils: some amazing pencils I found in the @exploratorium gift shop that exhibit reversible color change. The warm air from a hair dryer can quickly shift the color of these pencils, and then as they cool back to room temperature the original color slowly fades back in. The color change can also be achieved by body heat from the hand. The color change seen here most likely employs leuco dyes, thermochromic chemicals that have two reversible forms, one colorless when warmed above a threshold temperature.
Unstable Equilibrium Pen Stand
The illusion pen is available here:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Spiral Illusion Pen
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
The pen holder came to me from my friend Tim Rowett a few years back- I will post again if I can find some for sale.
Unstable Equilibrium Pen Holder: the “pen plank” stand is of simple construction, sliced and drilled at an angle. When combined with a pen the center of mass of pen + stand is directly above base of stand- allowing the assembly to defy gravity. A perfect stand to display my spiral barber pole illusion pen!
Crushmetric Pen: Galactic Black
Available here:
From Crushmetric: BUY NOW: Crushmetric Pen
From Art of Play: BUY NOW: Switch Pen
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Crushmetric Pen: the Switch Pen, Galactic Black foil edition- functional kinetic art based on materials science and tessellation origami techniques. The crushed state can be reversed over and over in this incredible design by artist/inventor Noah Deledda @noahdeledda, also known for his similar sculptures created from aluminum cans. Wonderful and affordable kinetic art object that is a practical ballpoint pen.
Holiday Specs Holographic Glasses
Get these designs and many more here:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Holiday Specs Holographic Glasses (full set)
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Holiday Specs Holographic Glasses
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Get the tree and lights here:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Tree Decoration, Set of LED lights
Holiday Specs: ‘tis the season to put up the tree and break out the hologram glasses! With them on every point source of light gets a holographic image overlaid: stars, snowmen, trees, candy canes, and snowflakes. The “lenses” in these glasses are actually transmission holograms but with the image located at the farthest point in the depth of field. Made by @americanpaperoptics3d with many more images available.
Magnetic Sand Hourglass
Get one from these fine sources:
From Amazon: BUY NOW Magnetic Hourglass
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Magnetic Sand Hourglass: ferromagnetic sand collects above a neodymium magnet in the wood base. Each particulate of ferromagnetic iron becomes a temporary dipole magnet in the presence of the magnetic field in the base. The tiny dipoles link up north ends to south ends, creating interesting patterns that reveal the magnetic field lines.
Fractal Tree Ornament
Get this and other mathematical creations by George Bell:
from Etsy: BUY NOW: Koch Snowflake Ornament
Other fractal ornaments here: Fractal Decorations
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Fractal Tree Ornament: four iterations of the famous Koch Snowflake fractal are ingeniously combined as the four symmetry planes of a cuboctahedron. A very seasonal mathematical object to hang on the tree! Designed and 3D printed by artist and maker George Bell.
Spin Shades Turbine Lamp
These vintage lamp kits are available here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW; Spin Shades Lamp Kits
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Spin Shade Turbine Lamp: a simple kit that transforms any 4 Watt night light into kinetic art. Energy transfer: electrical energy heats the filament of the bulb which then supplies heat to give kinetic energy to the rising air which then gives rotational kinetic energy to the turbine/lamp shade.
Magnetic Soma Cube
Get this inexpensive SomaCube here:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Magnetic Soma Cube
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Magnetic Soma Cube: a new fun variant of the famous math toy invented by Danish scientist and artist Piet Hein, who claimed that this puzzle came to him as he was listening to a lecture on Quantum Mechanics by Werner Heisenberg (yes- that Heisenberg). The seven pieces of this puzzle are all the ways 3 or 4 cubes can be joined such that the piece has at least one inside corner. In this version small magnets are encased in cleverly designed cavities such that they will always flip over to attract a counterpart in another puzzle piece, allowing the puzzle to stick together- or hang from the side of the refrigerator. Amazingly there are 240 ways to make the cube from these 7 pieces- still not that easy!
Mini-Lollipopter
Available here:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Lollipopter Kinetics
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Mini-Lollipopter: new smaller cousin of one of my favorite interactive kinetic sculpture designs. A snap of the wrist imparts angular momentum to the "petals" which then rotate until an internal mechanism stops their motion with predetermined spacing- clockwise rotation transforms a helix to an abstract pine cone, counterclockwise returns the helix. Created by @john.edmark.
Lissajous Roller
Available from Pyrigan & Co.
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Lissajous Roller Illusion
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Lissajous Roller: when viewing this 3D printed object from the side one sees a projection of a 3:2 Lissajous curve, but the object is actually cylindrical in frame and can roll towards or away from the viewer. When in motion a “dual axis illusion” is produced where the object appears to be rotating about a vertical axis. Invented by Bill Gosper and produced by Pyrigan & Co.
Bouillant de Franklin (Hand Boiler)
A variety of shapes and colors are available
From Educational Innovations: BUY NOW: Hand Boilers
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Hand Boilers
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Bouillant de Franklin (Hand Boiler): reversible liquid-gas phase transition device made famous by Benjamin Franklin who was one of the first to describe the physics of its operation. The boiling point of dichloromethane is slightly below body temperature - heat from a hand increases pressure in the bottom bulb pushing the green (dyed) liquid through the glass pipe to the top. A vintage handmade version from France.