Neon Plasma Glassware
Sold individually, or as a set, here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Plasma Glassware and Excitation Base
Neon Plasma Glassware: serve up a platter of plasma! These double walled glass mugs glow orange and blue from the excitation spectrum of neon gas at low pressure. The base contains a high frequency transformer (Tesla coil) that generates high voltage electric fields (but at very low current) which excites the neon to glow, and also serves as a display platter. The inner volume of each glass varies in thickness which leads to variations in heat and pressure which in turn produces different excitations (orange and blue) of the neon gas in patterns that dance and dazzle the eye. An upcoming video will show these filled with beverages. Stunningly beautiful kinetic art and tech by creator Zerg Dragonymous.
Infinity Cactus Lamp
Get this fun cactus lamp here:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Infinity Cactus Lamp
Infinity Cactus Lamp: parallel partially mirrored panes with green LEDs create the illusion of depth through the physics of reflection and refraction- in the shape of a saguaro!
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
Get the tree and lights here:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Tree Decoration, Set of LED lights
Holiday Specs: 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 American Paper Optics with many more images available.
Heng Balance Lamp
Many models and colors to choose from, available here:
From Amazon: BUY NOW
Heng Balance Lamp
Heng Balance Lamp: magnetic suspension sculpture and light- with two neodymium magnets on cords suspended by their mutual magnetic attraction. In this design by Zanwen Li, the bottom cord engages the light switch.
Frozen Lightning Lamp
Quality lightning figures are available here:
From eBay: BUY NOW
Lightning Lichtenberg Sculpture
Frozen Lightning Lamp: a Lichtenberg fractal created by electron discharge from a charged acrylic insulator. A piece of nonconducting acrylic is filled with electrons using a linear accelerator and then discharged to ground with a flash and bang- the figure is the permanent result. Electrons typically will not flow through an insulator, but a high velocity beam of them from a linear accelerator allows the electrons to tunnel deep into the plastic and build up a very large charge slowly. Such a large charge can then create a high enough voltage to create a breakdown arc which is hot enough to leave the fractal pattern. This piece is part of the Captured Lightning Sculptures series by Stoneridge Engineering LLC.
The Levimoon
Get a levitating moon globe lamp here!
From Amazon: BUY NOW Levitating Moon Globe Lamp
The Levimoon: this detailed moon globe is an adjustable lamp that levitates! Charged through wireless induction via the base, the moon floats above the Earth while illuminated from the inside to reveal the major features of the lunar surface, and will rotate when given a slight push. This kind of levitation uses a control system with an adjustable electromagnet in a feedback loop with Hall effect sensors which allows for fine tuning of the magnetic field to exactly balance the pull of gravity.
Vintage VFD Tube Clock
Fully assembeld high quality clocks available here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: VFD Tube Clock
Vintage VFD Tube Clock: before seven segment LEDs there were Vacuum Fluorescent Display tubes in which zinc oxide coatings emit green light when bombarded by electrons under high vacuum. A phosphor coated anode segment only illuminates if it and the grid (seen in close up) are both energized at positive potential. This clock features an eight digit IV-18 display tube manufactured in the 1990s and cofigured to power up via a USB cable - old tech meets modern electronics in an elegant acrylic case.
Tricolor Plasma Globe with Glow Wand
Get a globe and glow wand here:
From Aurora Plasma Designs: BUY NOW: Globes and Glow Wands
Click here for other amazing: Glow Discharge Designs
Tricolor Plasma Globe and Glow Wand: an engineered mix of low pressure noble gasses exhibit three colors of glow discharge in the plasma filaments that rise upward due to heating. A separate glass wand has a different gas mixture and phosphor coated beads that glow when in contact with the globe. A small high frequency coil at center creates the high voltage potential between the center electrode and the metal coated glass globe. Current flow through the thin gas produces the colorful emission spectra from the gasses.
Infinity Mirror Light Bulb
Available as a light bulb with screw in base, or as a USB Lamp
From eBay: BUY NOW Infinity Mirror Bulb
From Amazon: BUY NOW Infinity Mirror Lamps
Get the minimal tabletop base here:
From Amazon: BUY NOW Minimal Lamp Base
Infinity Mirror Light Bulb: illusion of depth from multiple refections. This glass bulb is partially coated inside and out with a thin metal layer. The metal layer is made thinner in a pattern of small circles to produce iridescent colors through thin-film interference effects. When lit from within by white LEDs, multiple reflections on the curved contour create the firework like spray of light and color. So much physics going on in this inexpensive novelty bulb!
Pearlescent Metallic Lava Lamp
Get this metallic lava version here:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Metallic Lava Lamp
From explOratorium store: BUY NOW: Metallic Lava Lamp
See aslo: Magnetic Ferrofluid Lava Lamp
The Lava Lamp: with new pearlescent metallic “lava”- kinetic art with an amazing amount of physics on display: convective heat flow, Archimedes principle, surface tension (note how the smaller blobs form into spheres), and immiscible liquids to name just some of the science behind this famous device. In this loop one can see shock waves ripple through the blobs as they detach, and as they recombine at the bottom. Manufactured by Mathmos and invented in 1963 by Edward Walker of Dorset, England.
Rolling Ball Fountain
Find this and similar fountains here:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Rolling Ball Fountain
Rolling Ball Fountain: this miniature kugel fountain features a glass sphere that sits on a socket of precisely similar shape, and is suspended on a very thin (less than half a mm) film of moving water which greatly reduces friction. The velocity of the water in the thin layer slows as it spreads out via a hole in the socket, and this hole is offset from the center so that the interaction with the water stream sets the ball spinning. A small pump provides the flow rate, and colorful LEDs illuminate the glass sphere to show off the rotation. Perhaps you’ve seen public art installations featuring giant granite spheres weighing tons and yet similarly suspended on a thin layer of flowing water. Physics principles involved here include viscosity and Reynold’s number, the Navier-Stokes equation, Bernoulli’s principle and the study of thin layer lubricants.
Lampe Kino: Polarizing Art
The amazing art of Anne-Lise King available here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Kino Lamp Polarizing Art Lights
Lampe Kino: Art from from the manipulation of polarized light. These videos showcase two designs by artist Anne-Lise King, and each design can itself be displayed in numerous ways depending on the orientation of the polarizing filter and the layering of plastic imaging sheets. Light has an orientation, denoted as polarization, and a polarizing filter can be used to block certain orientations. The colors produced here come from how the molecular structure of plastics can rotate the polarization of light that passes through- light corresponding to yellows and greens gets rotated in plastic in proportion to their frequency, red and blue frequencies only a small amount. The images here are constructed with different layers of plastic to rotate the light by differing amounts. Polarizing filters are then added to allow only certain frequencies (colors) of light through.
Luminglass
These are fairly inexpensive and use two AA batteries. Great for a rave or a physics class!
From Amazon: BUY NOW Plasma Disk
From eBay: BUY NOW Plasma Disk
Larger versions available here:
From eBay: BUY NOW Luminglas Plasma Disk
Luminglass: with audio modulation. Tesla (high frequency) coil within a noble gas discharge tube just like a plasma globe- these lightning disks also have phosphor covered dielectric pellets that create most of the light when excited by current flow. The intro to Tool's Sober provides audio with sufficient dynamic range to demonstrate the modulation effect.
Neon Plasma Glass
Each glass is unique and comes with tesla coil base:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Neon Glow Glass by TeslaCoilPro
Neon Plasma Glass: these double walled glass mugs glow orange and blue from the excitation spectrum of neon gas at low pressure. The base contains a high frequency transformer (Tesla coil) that generates high voltage electric fields (but at very low current) from USB rechargeable batteries- which excites the neon to glow, and also serves as a coaster. The inner volume varies in thickness which leads to variations in heat and pressure which in turn produces different excitations (orange and blue) of the neon gas in patterns that dance and dazzle the eye. Stunningly beautiful kinetic art and tech by creator Zerg Dragonymous.
Fiber Optic Cactus Lamp
Vintage fiber optic lamps like this one are available on eBay most of the time:
From eBay: BUY NOW Vintage Fiber Optic Flower
Fiber Optic Cactus Lamp: this vintage 1980s fiber optic lamp was found at a local thrift store- and it still works! The fiber bundle is illuminated by a lamp in the base and the color shifting patterns are generated by a rotating color wheel placed between the light source and the fiber optic bundle. Fun physics at a thrift store price.
The PhoTOP
Get a PhoTOP from these fine vendors (comes with laser pointer!):
From Educational Innovations: BUY NOW PhoTOP
From Vat19: BUY NOW: PhoTOP
Another amazing spinning device by Prof. Ken Brecher! Get his other spinning tops here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: PhiTOP, PiTOP, eTOP, iTOP, DeltaCELT
The PhoTOP: phosphorescent glow illuminates the intricate path of a 405nm laser pointer beam on a balanced spinning disk. Let the disk set alone for a few minutes to allow the traces to fade- and repeat again and again to experiment making new patterns.
Fresnel Minor Lamp
See the gallery of work by the artist:
Art Gallery: inquire about availability
Sean Agustine March
Fresnel Minor Lamp: Microlayers of metals and metal oxides allow a slab of glass to transmit a different color than it reflects through thin-film optical phenomena such as interference and selective absorption. In this remarkable art piece, dichroic glass is combined with infinity mirror type multiple reflections creating this dazzling display of physics! Special thanks to @seanaugustinemarch for this amazing addition to my collection.