GREAT
EXPLORATIONS - Moving air | Forming
images | Reflecting light | Electricity
and magnetism | Spinning things | Making
sense | Changing colours | Making
sounds and waves | Moving to and fro
| Thinking about shapes
This is an old set of proven ideas, for reference. My latest designs are
far better!
Making
sense
Grey
ring
TEXT:
Is one side of this ring a darker
grey than the other?
Lift up the black cord and think again.
What you thought you saw was influenced by the
dark or pale background. We "see" with our brain as well as
with our eyes.
A particularly striking illusion. You can just about see it in this photograph.
Grey
board
(Sorry, no picture.)
TEXT:
Is this board the same shade of
light grey all over?
Lift the hanging strip and see if you change
your mind.
It is less easy to distinguish between shades
of brightness when we cannot see a line were they meet.
One half of the board is slightly darker than the other, but a hanging
strip of rubber hides the line where they join. You can't see the difference
until you lift up the rubber strip: then it it very obvious.
After-image
colours
TEXT:
Stare at the cross on one of the
coloured shapes and count to twenty.
Now look at a cross on the white screen and
blink your eyes.
What colour seems to appear? There is obviously
more to our colour vision than meets the eye.
The panel is backlit and glows brightly.
Baffling
tiles
(Sorry, no picture.)
TEXT:
Are the rows in this pattern straight
or not?
Are all the lines parallel or are some of
them slanting?
What we "see" depends on our brain
as well as on our eyes. Illusions like this fool our brain. This one was
first noticed on a tiled cafe wall in Bristol.
Phenakistoscope
TEXT:
Spin the disc and look though the
slits at the mirror.
Can you work out why the picture seems to
come to life?
The moving pictures on a television or cinema
screen are a similar illusion: just lots of still pictures shown quickly,
one after another.
This is based on an old Victorian toy.
Rotating
window
(Sorry, no picture.)
TEXT:
Look up!
As this picture of a window frame rotates,
it fools your brain into thinking it is twisting to-and-fro.
Try standing further away and cover one eye
to see the best effect.
A flat cut-out of an oblique view of a realistically drawn window frame,
rotating constantly on top of a pole.
Inside-out
shapes
(Sorry, no picture.)
TEXT:
Step back and look at these shapes
from a distance.
Now move sideways and notice how they seem
to turn and follow you.
Our brain "expects" these shapes to
be convex (to curve outwards rather than inwards), so that is what we
"see". How many mistakes are made by people "seeing"
what they expect to see?
An inside-out cube next to a 'proper' cube, and an inside-out human face
next to a 'proper' face. It is particularly unsettling how the inside-out
face seems to turn to follow you as you walk past.
Three
planks or four?
TEXT:
Look at each end of the picture.
Move the slider from one end to the other.
The picture is not changing, only the way your
brain "sees" it. If you feel slightly confused, it is because
your brain is trying to "see" this flat pattern as a three-dimensional
one.
It was an interesting and successful experiment to re-design this classical
illusion as a hands-on experience.
3-D
colours
(Sorry, no picture.)
TEXT:
Hold the red plastic over one eye
and the green over your other eye.
Do the shapes seem to be in front of the
dots or behind them? What happens if you swop over the red and green plastic?
Which shape seems closest to you? Still looking
through the coloured plastic, open and close each eye alternately. Which
shape seems to "jump" furthest from side to side?
An investigation relating to the familiar coloured spectacles used for
looking at '3-D pictures'.
Touch
tunnel
(Sorr, no picture.)
TEXT:
The touch tunnel is dark inside.
It is impossible to see, so you will have
to rely on your other senses.
Sight is the most important of our five senses.
It is hard to manage without it. Does the experience make you more aware
of your other senses? Which other sense would you find hardest to manage
without?
A large, amazingly popular exhibit and a really strange experience that
nobody should miss. You crawl 30 feet in total darkness through a convoluted,
carpeted passage. There are emergency exit doors, together with constant
staff supervision and 2-way electronic voice communication with the outside
world. This was fabricated on-site out of timber and MDF board. Based,
with permission, on a design supplied by Great Explorations, St. Petersburg,
Florida.
GREAT
EXPLORATIONS - Moving air | Forming
images | Reflecting light | Electricity
and magnetism | Spinning things | Making
sense | Changing colours | Making
sounds and waves | Moving to and fro
| Thinking about shapes
This is an old set of proven ideas, for reference. My latest designs are
far better!
|
