Moravian Star Lamp
Get a star lamp here:
BUY NOW: Herrnhut Star Lamps
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Moravian Star Lamp: recently I was traveling trough Munich where I discovered this beautiful geometric holiday decoration throughout the airport (swipe for photos). The star has 26 points with the geometry of a stellated rhombicuboctahedron which produces 8 triangular points and 18 square shaped points. Also called Herrnhut Stars these decorations have been a traditional part of the holidays for more than 160 years where the first stars where constructed by a mathematics instructor at a Moravian church boarding school as part of a geometry lesson.
Fluorescein v. Laser Frequency
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
Make you own fluorescent solution with this powder:
From STEMCell Science: BUY NOW: Fluorescein Powder
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Fluorescein v. Laser Frequency: exploring how this famous fluorescent dye reacts to three frequencies of laser pointer using this unique liquid filled paperweight. Under Green (532 nm) we see some mild yellow fluorescence as the beam transmits through the liquid, under Red (635 nm) the beam transmits with no reaction, but under near UV Blue (450 nm) the beam is completely absorbed near the liquid surface and re-emitted in bright green with a peak at 515nm. A fun home experiment to explore quantum physics phenomena with inexpensive apparatus.
Shadow Stereographic Projection
These mathematical art objects are created by Henry Segerman and are available here:
From Shapeways: BUY NOW Mathematical Art
US Flag projection can be obtain here (Support MoMATH!);
From MoMATH: BUY NOW: US Flag Stereo Projection
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Wikipedia has a nice introduction to the math and applications of stereographic projection.
Shadow Stereographic Projection: 3D printed sculptures that cast geometric shadows. When illuminated by a point source of light (placed at the top pole of the sphere) the shadow cast by the rays of light represent a one to one mapping of the points on the sphere to points on the plane- creating 1) the US Flag, 2) a honeycomb of regular hexagons, and 3) a square grid. Stereographic projection is often used in representing the geography of the globe of our planet on to a flat map. Mathematical art by Henry Segerman.
Spinning Arc Plasma Lighter
Get a rechargable circular plasma ignition source here:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Spinning Arc Lighter
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Plasma Arc Lighter Physics: a rotating arc of plasma exceeds 1100 C (2000 F) on this flameless lighter. The breakdown voltage of air is about 3000 Volts per mm. Thus the circuit in the lighter must provide about 12,000 volts to produce this 4mm arc. The circuit involves a transformer with very fine wire windings, a transistor, and a powerful lithium-ion battery (USB rechargeable). The circuit produces high frequency current oscillations in the coils that in turn produce the needed high voltage- basically a Tesla coil for your pocket!
Purple Plasma Globe
Similar purple globes available here:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Colored Plasma Globes
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Purple Plasma Globe: sold as licensed Rick and Morty merchandise this globe features a glow plasma discharge that is mostly in the violet frequencies giving this device an interesting overall purple hue (probably due to argon gas in the mix). A small high frequency coil at center of these globes creates the high voltage potential between the center electrode and the metal coated glass globe. Current then flows through the thin gas, exciting the electrons in the gas molecules, producing the colorful emission spectra that emanates from the plasma tendrils.
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
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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.
Phosphorescence and Fluorescence in Calcite
The UVA and UVC lamps used in this video are available here (well made and reasonably priced professional tools):
From WayTooCool LLC: BUY NOW: UV Lamps
Get a calcite crystal sample here (those with a slight pink color will exhibit the glow):
From Amazon: BUY NOW Optical Calcite Crystal
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Phosphorescence and Fluorescence in Calcite: a ghostly blue afterglow is induced by a short wave UVC ultraviolet lamp. The high energy UVC photons interact with electrons in the crystal trapping them in a temporary quantum state with a decay half-life of 7.2 milliseconds, each then emit a blue photon when returning to their ground state- the phenomenon of phosphorescence. However a pink/orange instantaneous glow is produced by a long wave UVA lamp/flashlight (swipe to see). These medium energy UVA photos from the flashlight interact with electrons in different orbitals that de-excite through the emission of orange 595nm photons. See my previous post for more amazing calcite crystal physics.
Levitating Inq Lamp
Get (or give!) a Curiosity Box subscription here: JOIN NOW: The Curiosity Box
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Levitating Inq Lamp: Inq (the curious orange octopus) hangs illuminated and suspended by magnetic forces. I modified this lamp to incorporate the squish version of the @thecuriositybox mascot with a powerful neodymium magnet on top and a smaller magnet embedded with in Inq’s head- when the octopus is floating the bottom cord engages the light switch.
Pharaoh Hollow Mask Illusion
Similar items:
From Amazon: BUY NOW Hollow Mask Illusion Lamp
Also available: Einstein!
From Amazon: BUY NOW Einstein Illusion
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Wikipedia has the details on the Hollow Mask Illusion
Pharaoh Hollow Mask Illusion: this ceramic lamp features a concave image lighted from the bottom, which appears as a regular convex image via this vintage version of the hollow face illusion. An amazing feature of such an inverted image mask is that King Tut appears animated, and seems to always be looking in the direction of the viewer. Spooky physics and psychophysics for Halloween!
The FluoroSphere
The kit includes the UV LED base, elegant glass sphere, and enough fluorescent gel for many repeat lights shows.
From PyroFarms: BUY NOW: FluoroSphere
From Amazon: BUY NOW: FluoroSphere
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The FluoroSphere: intricate and dynamic lights shows are produced within an elegant glass sphere as fluorescent dyes in mineral oil slowly mix into room temperature water. Ultraviolet LEDs (in the base on which the sphere rests) make the dyes glow brightly and reveal the initial nondiffusive mixing structure which includes the phenomena of drops, plumes, and other features of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities. Shown here, slightly sped up, is the first 8 minutes or so of the process which takes up to half an hour to mix evenly. The green light is characteristic of the famous fluorescein dye.
Lampe Kino: Polarizing Art
The amazing art of Anne-Lise King available here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Kino Lamp Polarizing Art Lights
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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.
Vintage VFD Tube Clock
Fully assembeld high quality clocks available here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: VFD Tube Clock
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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.
Slow Dance
This finally crated kinetic art piece avaiable here:
From Art of Play: BUY NOW: Slow Dance
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Slow Dance: a kinetic sculpture via induced vibration and high speed strobe lighting in which objects exhibit subtle and beautiful motion when mounted within this special frame. I love how the electromagnet, with its beautiful copper windings, is prominently featured at the bottom of the frame. Electronics within the frame send AC currents to the electromagnet which then pushes and pulls magnets on each side. These magnets are affixed to leaf springs to which feathers, flowers, and other objects are attached with elastic bands. The arrangement is then illuminated by LEDs set to strobe at just the right frequency to produce the slow dance illusion.
KaleidoFlow Fluid Display Cell: The Glorb
KaleidoFlow fluid and associated devices available here:
From Laminar Sciences Corp: BUY NOW: KaleidoFlow Rheoscopic Fluid
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KaleidoFlow Fluid Cell: the phenomenon of streaming birefringence colorfully reveals the temporary sheer stresses induced in a liquid by a moving plastic sphere. The “Glorb” device design features a cylindrical cell with polarizing filters as the top and bottom windows and filled with this special rheoscopic fluid and a plastic bead. This assembly then slides into a base with white LEDs to supply backlighting. Many thanks to Laminar Sciences Corp for supplying this beautiful display cell and bottles of KaleidoFlow fluid for experimentation.