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"Nuts and bolts":
interactive exibits
Exhibit
development & fabrication
Designs
& performance specifications
Discovery
Disks: mobile mini-interactives
'Beam Cam' projecting video microscope
Underwater
Street Discovery Centre
Moscow
Planetarium
Sellafield
Visitor Centre
'Alternative
energy'
Earth
Science
Fixed
Discovery Disks, Glasgow
Air-table,
telescope, moon-phases
Astronomy
exhibits for Valencia
Biometrics
Magnetic
field exhibit for CERN, Geneva
Tabletop
Discovery Disks: magnetism
Tabletop
Discovery Disks: Light
More
Light interactives
"Academic"
interactives: The Energy Enzyme
"Academic
interactives": Electron beams
"Academic
interactives": Mantle geology
Working
canal-lock model
Virtual
exhibit: Ich bin einmalig
Chemistry
interactives: Chirality
Video
microscopes: Melting crystal
Push-button
quiz: Breath of life
Environmental
& biological
Cookbook
outlines of my 1992 "classical" Great Explorations interactives
Talk to me!
UK phone/fax
+44 (0) 1663 743794
Email ian@interactives.co.uk
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Air-table,
telescope, moon-phases
Exhibits
for the Landesmuseum fuer Technik und Arbeit, Mannheim, Germany
Newton's
Laws.
A square, low-friction surface on which plastic discs glide on a cushion
of air blowing out from numerous small holes in a flat surface.
Four elastic cords are stretched across the sides, concealed beneath
the overhanging rim. The gliding discs, rebounding up to thirty times
from the sides, are shiny rainbow-reflective CDs. This is a truly beautiful
exhibit, capturing and holding people's attention for a long time.
How
a telescope works
 
A glass objective lens is mounted on a sliding disc inside a 400mm
diameter plastic tube. The lens forms an inverted image on a circular,
"opal", translucent, acrylic screen. Two handles enable the
lens assembly to be focused.
The screen can be tilted forwards using a lever to the right. It is magnetically
indexed in the upright and forward positions.A smaller "magnifying"
lens with shorter focal length hangs from two thin chains, in front of
the screen.
The "telescope" can be rotated sideways by a small amount,
using the two handles. The bearing has slight friction and "stops"
to limit movement.
You can examine the image on the screen through the smaller magnifying
lens. While doing this, you can tilt the screen forwards, out of the way,
using the red lever. Now you can still see the magnified image, even more
clearly than before.
You have just assembled the components of an astronomical telescope...
Phases
of the moon
A simple idea, but I think my design is original. However simple,
it is still surprising how many details need to be considered.
Inside the table is a rotary damper mechanism, to prevent children from
moving the moon dangerously fast. The rotating assembly is strongly engineered
in welded, stainless steel. The red handle makes it immediately obvious
which part to touch, and what to do with it. The moon has a special, non-shiny
surface finish in just the right shade of grey. (In fact the moon actually
is a dirty grey colour!) The lamp unit is symbolically stylised to represent
the sun and designed to avoid overheating, despite being very bright.
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