Strange Attractor

The attraction and repulsion of magnets produces entrancing,

unpredictable motion.
Patterns of order can be found in apparently disordered systems. This pendulum - a
magnet swinging over a small number of fixed magnets - is a very simple system
that shows chaotic motion for some starting positions of the pendulum. The search
for order in the chaos can be very engrossing.

• A ring stand and a clamp.

• 4 to 6 ceramic magnets (available at Radio Shack).
• Paint, masking tape, or correction fluid.
• Fishing line or string.

(15 minutes or less)

Put all the magnets together in a stack so that they stick together magnetically. By doing
this, you are orienting the magnets so that all of the north poles point in one direction and all
of the south poles point in the other direction. Mark the top of each magnet with paint, tape,
or correction fluid, thus identifying all the matching poles.

Use the string or fishing line to hang one magnet from the ring stand so that it is a free-
swinging pendulum. You can hang the magnet in any orientation.

Arrange the other magnets on the ring stand base in an equilateral triangle measuring a
couple of inches on a side. Position the magnets so that they all have the same pole up.
Adjust the length of the pendulum so that the free-swinging magnet will come as close as
possible to the magnets on the ring stand base without hitting them or the base itself. You
can accomplish this either by changing the length of the string or by adjusting the position of
the clamp.

(15 minutes or more)

Give the pendulum magnet a push, and watch!

Vary the location and poles of the magnets to develop other patterns. You can arrange the
magnets so that all of them have the same pole up, or you can mix them up. Notice that a
tiny change in the location of one of the fixed magnets or in the starting position of the
pendulum magnet may cause the pendulum to develop a whole new pattern of swinging.

The force of gravity and the simple pushes and pulls of the magnets act together to influence
the swinging pendulum in very complex ways. It can be very difficult to predict where the
pendulum is going to go next, even though you know which magnets are attracting it and
which are repelling it.

This sort of unpredictable motion is often called chaotic motion. Strangely enough, there can
be a subtle and complex kind of order to chaos. Scientists try to describe this order with
models called strange attractors.

The new sciences of chaos and turbulence are unveiling hidden relationships in nature.
Diverse phenomena, such as the patterns of Saturn's rings, measles outbreaks, and the
onset of heart attacks all follow chaotic patterns.

Often, a system that is predictable in the long run shows chaotic variations in the short run.
Although it is quite difficult to predict specific daily weather behavior in the San Francisco
Bay Area, the overall long-term patterns are generally known. The individual motion of
insects may be random and insignificant, yet the behavior of the population as a whole can
be analyzed.

As shown in this Snack, a very slight difference in the starting position of the pendulum can
grow to a tremendous difference in the pattern of motion in a short time. This is
characteristic of chaotic systems. Weather scientists recognize this characteristic of chaos
when they argue over the "butterfly phenomenon." That is, can a butterfly flapping its wings
in China drastically alter the weather in New York?

For further reading, see: Chaos by James Gleick (Viking Penguin, 1988) and The Turbulent
Mirror by John Briggs and F. David Peat (Harper Collins, 1990).
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Look Into Infinity
Images of images of images can repeat forever.
If you have ever been between two mirrors that face each other, such as in a
barber shop or a beauty salon, you will befamiliar with the seemingly endless line
of images fading into the distance. The Look Into InfinitySnack recreates this
effect.

• 2 square pieces of plexi-mirror measuring 12 x 12 inches (30 x 30 cm).

(Available from plastics stores. Mirror size is not crucial. You can substitute a 12
x 12 inch [30 x 30 cm] glass mirror tile or any two mirrors for the plexi-mirror.
See To Do and Notice.)
• Some kind of stand. (See Assembly.)
• Adult help.

(15 minutes or less)

Cut a hole about 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter near the center of one of the mirrors. You can
use a hole saw, or you can have this done for you at the plastics store. You can get the
effect without the hole, but the hole gives a more interesting perspective. If you don't care
about the hole, you can use glass mirror tiles instead of a plexi-mirror. You can even create
the hole on a glass mirror tile by scraping away the silver backing.

Stand the mirrors so that their reflecting surfaces face each other and are parallel to each
other. The mirrors can be anywhere from a few inches to a foot apart. You can make a
wooden stand for each mirror by cutting a slit along the length of the flat side of a piece of 1
x 4 inch (2.5 x 10 cm) pine. Then slip the mirror into the slit. You can also stand each mirror
between two pieces of wood held together by rubber bands, or place two full softdrink cans
(or any heavy objects) so that one is on each side of the mirror, supporting it.

(5 minutes or more)
With the reflecting surfaces facing each other, look through the hole into the space between
the mirrors. (If you didn't bother making a hole, just look over the top of one mirror.) You
can also try placing either your finger or some other object between the mirrors.

If you place an object between the mirrors, notice that there is a repetitious pattern in the
orientation and spacing of the images. Objects with contrasting colors on the front and back
(such as red and white) show this well. Successive images alternate from front view to back
view. If the original object is closer to one mirror than to the other, the distance between
successive images will alternate from close together to far apart - making the images seem
to be grouped in pairs, with a front side always facing a front side, or a back side always
facing a back side.

In this light-ray diagram, the solid lines

show the actual path of the light rays; the
dashed lines show the path of the light rays
projected by your brain. You see images
where the dashed lines come together.

This light-ray diagram shows the rays that

come from the front of an object and those
that come from the back. After the first
reflection, you see one image in each mirror
where the dashed lines come together (1).
After the second reflection, you see a
second image in each mirror (2), and so on.

As you look at the images formed in one of

the mirrors on the diagram, notice that there
is an alternation of front and back views,
that the images appear to be grouped in
pairs, and that a front side is always facing a
front side and a back side is always facing a
back side. This corresponds to what you
actually observe in the mirrors.

An interesting variation on the version described involves gluing the two mirrors to a block of
foam rubber. Mirrors 6 x 6 inches (15 x 15 cm) work well for this handheld portable version,
but mirror size is not crucial. The foam should separate the mirrors by about 2 to 3 inches (5
to 8 cm).

An even simpler handheld version of this Snack uses pieces of sponge as spacers, with
rubber bands holding the mirrors together. Use a soft sponge. The cheap ones used for
washing cars work well. One or two holes can be drilled into the mirror.

Squeeze the foam so that the mirrors are not quite parallel to each other. You will see a
pattern of images that curves off into infinity. Try it, you'll like it!

And if you enjoyed that one, why not take a look at the Corner Reflector Snack?
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Blue Sky
Now you can explain why the sky is blue and the sunset is red
When sunlight travels through the atmosphere, blue light scatters more than the
other colors, leaving a dominant yellow-orange hue to the transmitted light. The
scattered light makes the sky blue; the transmitted light makes the sunset reddish
orange.

• A transparent plastic box, or a large beaker, jar, or aquarium

• A flashlight or projector (either a slide or filmstrip projector)
• Powdered milk
• Polarizing filter (such as the lens from an old pair of polarized sunglasses)
• Blank white card for image screen
• Paper hole-punch
• Optional: Unexposed (black) 35 mm slide or photographic film, or an index
card cut to slide size

(15 minutes or less)

Fill the container with water. Place the light source so that the beam shines through the
container. Add powdered milk a pinch at a time; stir until you can clearly see the beam
shining through the liquid.

(15 minutes or more)

Look at the beam from the side of the tank and then from the end of the tank. You can also
let the light project onto a white card, which you hold at the end of the tank. From the side,
the beam looks bluish-white; from the end, it looks yellow-orange.

If you have added enough milk to the water, you will be able to see the color of the beam
change from blue-white to yelloworange along the length of the beam.
 If you want to look at a narrower beam of light, use a paper hole-punch to
punch a hole in the unexposed black slide or in a piece of 35 mm film, or
even in an index card cut to size. Place the slide, film, or index card in the projector.
(Do not hold it in front of the lens.) Focus the projector to obtain a sharp beam.

The sun produces white light, which is made up of light of all colors: red, orange,
yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. Light is a wave, and each of these colors corresponds to a
different frequency, and therefore wavelength, of light. The colors in the rainbow spectrum
are arranged according to their frequency: violet, indigo, and blue light have a higher
frequency than red, orange, and yellow light.

When the white light from the sun shines through the earth's atmosphere, it collides with gas
molecules. These molecules scatter the light.

The shorter the wavelength of light, the more it is scattered by the atmosphere. Because it
has a shorter wavelength, blue light is scattered ten times more than red light.

Blue light also has a frequency that is closer to the resonant frequency of atoms than that of
red light. That is, if the electrons bound to air molecules are pushed, they will oscillate with a
natural frequency that is even higher than the frequency of blue light. Blue light pushes on
the electrons with a frequency that is closer to their natural resonant frequency than that of
red light. This causes the blue light to be reradiated out in all directions, in a process called
scattering. The red light that is not scattered continues on in its original direction. When you
look up in the sky, the scattered blue light is the light that you see.

Why does the setting sun look reddish orange? When the sun is on the horizon, its light
takes a longer path through the atmosphere to your eyes than when the sun is directly
overhead. By the time the light of the setting sun reaches your eyes, most of the blue light
has been scattered out. The light you finally see is reddish orange, the color of white light
minus blue.

Violet light has an even shorter wavelength than blue light: It scatters even more than blue
light does. So why isn't the sky violet? Because there is just not enough of it. The sun puts
out much more blue light than violet light, so most of the scattered light in the sky is blue.

Scattering can polarize light. Place a polarizing filter between the projector and the tank.
Turn the filter while one person views the transmitted beam from the top and another views
it from the side. Notice that when the top person sees a bright beam, the side person will see
a dim beam, and vice versa.

You can also hold the polarizing filter between your eyes and the tank and rotate the filter to
make the beam look bright or dim. The filter and the scattering polarize the light. When the
two polarizations are aligned, the beam will be bright; when they are at right angles, the
beam will be dim.

Scattering polarizes light because light is a transverse wave. The direction of the transverse
oscillation of the electric field is called the direction of polarization of light.

The beam of light from the slide projector contains photons of light that are polarized in all
directions. horizontally, vertically, and all angles in between. Consider only the vertically
polarized light passing through the tank. This light can scatter to the side and remain
vertically polarized, but it cannot scatter upward! To retain the characteristic of a transverse
wave after scattering, only the vertically polarized light can be scattered sideways, and only
the horizontally polarized light can be scattered upward. This is shown in the drawing.
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Charge and Carry
Store up an electric charge, then make sparks.
Are you tired of electrostatic experiments that just won't work? This experiment
will produce a spark that you can feel, see, and hear. You rub a Styrofoam plate
with wool to give it a large electric charge. Then you use the charged Styrofoam to
charge an aluminum pie pan. The entire apparatus for charging the aluminum plate
is called an electrophorus, which is Greek for charge carrier. An even larger charge
can be stored up in a device called a Leyden jar, made from a plastic film can.

For the Electrophorus:

• A Stryofoam dinner plate (Acrylic plastic sheets also work well, as will old
LP records)
• A piece of wool cloth (Other fabrics may work, but wool will definitely
work.)
• A disposable aluminum pie pan
• A Styrofoam cup
• Hot glue gun or masking tape

For the Leyden jar:

• A plastic 35 mm film can

• A nail slightly longer than the film can
• Some aluminum foil.
• Tap water
• Optional: A neon glow tube (available from Radio Shack)

(15 minutes or less)

Electrophorus:
Tape or hot-glue the Styrofoam cup to the middle of the inside of the pie plate. (Most
household glues won't work because they dissolve Styrofoam.) Place the pie pan on top of
the upside-down Styrofoam plate or a piece of acrylic plastic.

Leyden Jar:

Push the nail through the center of the lid of the film can. Wrap aluminum foil around the
bottom two-thirds of the outside of the film can. You may tape the aluminum foil in place. Fill
the film can almost full with water. Snap the lid onto the can. The nail should touch the
water.

(30 minutes or more)

Rub the Styrofoam plate with the wool cloth. If this is the first time you are using the
Styrofoam in an electrostatic experiment, rub it for a full minute.

To charge the pie pan follow the next steps exactly:

1. Place the pie pan on top of the charged Styrofoam plate.

2. Briefly touch the pie pan with your finger. You may hear a snap and feel a shock.

3. Remove the pie pan using only the insulating Styrofoam cup (see photo). You may have to
hold the Styrofoam plate down with your other hand.

The pan is now charged.

Discharge the pan by touching it with your finger. You will hear a snap, feel a shock, and, if
the room is dark, see a spark. To make the largest spark, have the pie plate at least one foot
away from the Styrofoam plate. You can also discharge the pie pan through a neon glow
tube. Hold one of the two metal leads of the tube in your fingers and touch the other lead to
the pie pan. The electric spark will go through the neon and make a flash that is easily
visible. After charging the Styrofoam once, you can charge the pie pan several times. The pie
pan is portable and can be used for many electrostatic experiments.

Charge the Leyden jar by touching the charged pie pan to the nail while holding the Leyden
jar by its aluminum foil covering. You can make several charge deliveries by recharging the
pan before touching it to the nail. Discharge the jar by touching the aluminum foil with one
finger and the nail with another. Watch for a spark.
When you rub the Styrofoam plate with a wool cloth, you charge it negatively. That's
because the Styrofoam attracts electrons from the cloth. Often, a plate fresh from the
package will start with a positive charge. If it does, you will have to rub the plate long
enough to cancel this initial charge before you can begin building a sizable negative charge.
By using an electroscope (such as the one you can build with the Electroscope Snack, you
can determine whether the Styrofoam is positively or negatively charged. Styrofoam is an
insulator; it will hold its charge until it is discharged by current leaking into the air or along a
moisture film on the surface of the Styrofoam

When you place the pie pan on the Styrofoam, the electrons on the Styrofoam repel the
electrons on the pan. Since the electrons can't leave the pie pan because it is completely
surrounded by insulating air and Styrofoam, the pan retains its neutral charge. If you touch
the pie pan while it is near the Styrofoam, the mobile electrons will be pushed off the pan
and onto you. The electrons make a spark as they jump a few millimeters through the air to
reach your finger. The air in the spark is ionized as the moving electrons knock other
electrons off air molecules. The ionized air emits light and sound. You can also feel the flow
of electrons though your finger.

After the electrons leap to your finger, the pan has a positive charge. Physicists say the pan
has been charged by induction. You can carry the positively charged pan around by its
handle and carry the positive charge to other objects. If you bring the positive pan near your
finger again, or near any object that can be a source of electrons, the pan will attract
electrons, creating a second spark.

The low-pressure neon gas in a neon glow tube is easier to ionize than air that is at
atmospheric pressure. If you discharge the pan through a neon glow tube, the spark will
make a bigger flash of light.

When you touch a positively charged pie pan to the nail on the Leyden jar, electrons from
the nail flow onto the pie pan. The resulting positive charge on the nail attracts electrons
from your body through your hand onto the aluminum foil of the jar. The Leyden jar will then
have a positive center separated from a negative foil outside by the insulating plastic of the
film can. If you touch one finger to the foil and bring another finger near the nail at the
center of the Leyden jar, a spark will jump as the negative charges are attracted through you
to the positive nail. The beauty of the Leyden jar is that it can store charges from several
charged pie pans, thus building up to a larger, more visible, more powerful (and more
painful) spark.

The Leyden jar is the forerunner of the modern-day capacitor. It was invented in 1745 at the
University of Leyden by Pieter Van Musschenbroeck. Early Leyden jars were larger than a
plastic film can and could hold more charge. The inventor discharged one through himself
and wrote, "My whole body was shaken as though by a thunderbolt." At another time, a
Leyden jar was discharged through 700 monks who were holding hands. The charge caused
them to simultaneously jump slightly off the ground.

To give the Styrofoam plate a positive charge, try rubbing it with a plastic bread bag. Try
rubbing it with other cloths, too. Try charging the Leyden jar in reverse. That is, while
holding the nail, touch the aluminum foil with the pan.
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Circles of Magnetism I
You can make a magnetic field that's stronger than the
earth's!
Compass needles are little magnets that are free to rotate. Compasses allow us to
observe the direction of a magnetic field. Normally, they respond to the earth's
magnetic field, orienting themselves parallel to magnetic field lines. If we create a
magnetic field that is stronger than the field of the earth - for example, by using
electric currents - a compass needle will orient itself parallel to the new field.

• A 6- or 12-volt lantern battery.

• A 1 foot (30 cm) length of heavy wire that is rigid enough to stand by
itself. (You can use the wire from a coat hanger.)
• A Tinkertoy™ set for building the stand (or another improvised stand).
• A flat, rigid support surface measuring approximately 6 x 6 inches
(15 x 15 cm). (This can be made of posterboard or even a manila file folder.)
It should have a hole in the center of it that is large enough for the wire to pass
through.
• 4 or 6 small compasses, measuring about 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter.
• 2 electrical lead wires with alligator clips at both ends (available at Radio
Shack).
• Adult help.

(30 minutes or less)

Construct a Tinkertoy™ stand (or the equivalent), and lay the flat support surface in position
on the stand. (See the photo and the diagram above.)

If the coat hanger wire is painted or varnished, scrape the coating off to expose about 1 inch
(2.5 cm) of bare metal at each end.

Insert the wire through the hole in the flat support surface, and support the wire vertically in
the stand, as shown in the photo and diagram.

Arrange the compasses in a circle on the support surface as shown in the diagram.

Attach one clip lead to each battery terminal. but donot attach the other ends of the lead
wires to the coat hanger wire yet.

Observe the compass needles around the wire as when there is no current passing through
the wire. Rotate the support surface. What happens to the compass needles? They will point
north, orienting themselves so that they are parallel to the earth's magnetic field. (Note: a
few of your compasses may point south! Inexpensive compasses that are exposed to a
strong magnet will sometimes become magnetized in the reverse direction. It's nothing to
worry about, though - just keep in mind which end of your compasses points north.)

Attach the clip leads to the ends of the coat hanger wire where it has been scraped. Watch
what happens to the compass needles as current passes through the wire. If the electrical
current is large enough, each compass will point in a direction tangent to a circle centered on
the wire.

Rotate the support surface again. What happens to the compass needles this time? The
compasses will continue to point in a direction tangent to a circle centered on the wire.

Don't leave the clip leads connected too long, because the electric current will rapidly drain
the battery. A few seconds should be long enough to make good observations.

Switch the clip leads to the other terminals of the battery. What happens? The compass
needles will reverse direction when the electrical current reverses direction.

Compass needles line up with magnetic fields. Since the earth is a magnet, a compass will
normally line up with the earth's magnetic field. Because opposite magnetic poles attract, the
magnetic north pole of the compass points toward the magnetic south pole of the earth. (The
magnetic south pole of the earth is located in northern Canada! That is not a misprint. The
south pole of the earth magnet is near the geographic north pole.)
The electric current passing through the wire creates a magnetic field that is stronger than
the earth's field (in a region close to the wire). You can visualize the shape of this new field
as a set of concentric circles surrounding the wire. Each of these circles has its center at the
wire.

The closer to the wire you are, the stronger the magnetic field. The compass needles align
themselves with the total magnetic field at each point, the sum of the earth's field and that
of the wire. Since the magnetic field from the wire is significantly larger than that from the
earth, each needle ends up pointing essentially in the direction of the magnetic field of the
wire.

When you reverse the current, the direction of the magnetic field also reverses, and the
needles dutifully follow it.

To find the direction of the magnetic field made by an electrical current, use a technique
called the righthand rule.

Place your right hand with the thumb parallel to the wire carrying the current. Point your
thumb in the direction of the electrical current in the wire. (Remember: The electric current
flows from the plus side of the battery through the wire to the minus side.) Wrap your
fingers around the wire. Your fingers will now point in the direction of the magnetic field
around the wire. If there are compasses near the wire, they will point in the same direction
as your fingers.

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Circles of Magnetism IV
Two parallel, current-carrying wires exert forces on each
other.
When an electric current flows through a wire, a magnetic field is created around
the wire. If you place two current-carrying wires near each other, the magnetic
field around each wire exerts a force on the current flowing in the other wire.
These forces can push two current-carrying wires apart, or pull them together.

• One 6-volt lantern battery or an equivalent current supply.

• 2 electrical lead wires with alligator clips at both ends (available at Radio
Shack).
• Tinkertoys™ or wood for a stand.
• Masking tape or transparent tape.
• Light aluminum foil.
• Adult help.

(15 minutes or less)

Make a stand from wood or Tinkertoys™ (see the photo on page 14 and the diagrams
below), or build a stand of your own design from available materials.

Cut a strip of aluminum foil measuring about 2 feet (60 cm) long and 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) wide.
Tape one end of the foil strip to your support. Run the strip down and back up to the
support, making a loop, then tape the other end in place. Be sure the ends of the strip do
not touch.

Attach one clip lead to each battery terminal, but do not attach the other ends of the lead
wires to the strip yet.
(15 minutes or more)

Touch the two clip leads to the ends of the foil strip. The descending and ascending portions
of the loop will repel each other. The closer you can hang the descending and ascending
portions of the loop to each other - without allowing them to touch - the larger the repulsion.

Now hang the foil strip from the support with the two ends overlapping, so they make a good
electrical contact. Connect one of the clip leads to these overlapping ends. Separate the two
sides of the loop and briefly touch the other clip to the bottom of the loop. Notice that the
sides of the loop are attracted to each other when the current flows. (This step requires a
little coordination and a delicate touch to clearly demonstrate that it is the current flow in the
strips that makes them move together and not forces that you create when you touch the
clip to the bottom of the loop.)

A current-carrying wire generates a magnetic field that circles the wire (See the "Circles of
Magnetism I" Snack.)

When a current flows in a magnetic field, the field exerts forces on that current. (See the
"Motor Effect" Snack.) So each current-carrying wire in this Snack generates a magnetic field
at the position of the other wire and thus exerts a force on the current in the other wire. Two
parallel wires will either attract or repel each other, depending on the direction of current
flow in each wire. If both currents flow in the same direction, the wires will attract; if they
flow in opposite directions, they will repel.

The forces produced on the aluminum foil are small. This is because the electrical current
flowing through the foil is small, only a couple of amperes. Larger currents produce larger
forces. The Exploratorium exhibit, for example, uses wires carrying 400 amperes, which
produces forces that are more than 10,000 times stronger than the forces you produce with
this Snack.

The ampere, the fundamental unit of electrical current, is defined by the force exerted by
one wire on another. The definition of the ampere is as follows: A current of 1 ampere
flowing in each of two infinitely long parallel wires separated by 1 meter will produce an
attractive force of 2 x 10-7 newton on each 1-meter length of wire. For comparison, a force of
1 newton is approximately the weight of a quarterpound of hamburger.
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Colored Shadows
Not all shadows are black.
When two different-colored lights shine on the same spot on a white screen, the
light reflecting from that spot to your eyes is called an additive mixture because it
contains the colors from both lights. We can learn about human color perception by
using colored lights to make additive color mixtures.

• White surface. (A white wall, white posterboard, or white paper taped to

stiff cardboard works well. Do not use a beaded or metal slide projection
screen.)
• Red, green, and blue lightbulbs or floodlamps, one of each color.
Sylvania #11 colored lightbulbs or General Electric Dichrocolor Dichroic
Floodlamps (150 watt) work well. We have even obtained excellent results with
clear-colored Christmas tree lights. Smaller or dimmer bulbs are fine for
tabletop use by a few students, but larger, brighter bulbs allow a larger-scale
demonstration.
• 3 light sockets of any type or arrangement that will get the light from the
three bulbs simultaneously directed onto the same area of a white surface.
• Any solid object such as a pencil, ruler, correction fluid bottle, finger, etc.
• Adult help.

(15 minutes or less)

Set up the bulbs and screen in such a way that the light from all three bulbs falls on the
same area of the screen and all bulbs are approximately the same distance from the screen.
For best results, put the green bulb in between the red and the blue bulbs.

Turn on the lights, and adjust the positions of the bulbs until you obtain the "whitest" light
on the area of the screen where the three lights mix. For best results, make the room as
dark as possible.

Place a narrow opaque object, like a pencil, fairly close to the screen. Adjust the distance
from the screen until you see three distinct colored shadows.

Remove the object, turn off one of the colored lights, and notice how the color on the screen
changes. Then replace the object in front of the screen and notice the color of the shadows.
Move the object close to the screen until the shadows overlap. Notice the color of these
combined shadows.

Repeat the previous step with a different light turned off while the other two remain on, and
then a third time so you have tried all combinations. Repeat again with only one color at a
time on, and then with all three on. Vary the size of the object and the distance from the
screen. Try using your hand as an object.

The retina of the human eye has three receptors for colored light: One type of receptor is
most sensitive to red light, one to green light, and one to blue light. With these three color
receptors we are able to perceive more than a million different shades of color.

When a red light, a blue light, and a green light are all shining on the screen, the screen
looks white because these three colored lights stimulate all three color receptors on your
retinas approximately equally, giving us the sensation of white. Red, green, and blue are
therefore called additive primaries of light.

With these three lights you can make shadows of seven different colors: blue, red, green,
black, cyan (blue-green), magenta (a mixture of blue and red), and yellow (a mixture of red
and green). If you block two of the three lights, you get a shadow of the third color: Block
the red and green lights, for example, and you get a blue shadow. If you block all three
lights, you get a black shadow. And if you block one of the three lights, you get a shadow
whose color is a mixture of the two other colors. If the blue and green mix, they make cyan;
red and blue make magenta; red and green make yellow.
If you turn off the red light, leaving only the blue and green lights on, the lights mix and the
screen appears to be cyan, a bluegreen color. When you hold the object in front of this cyan
screen, you will see two shadows: one blue and one green. In one place the object blocks
the light coming from the green bulb and therefore leaves a blue shadow; in another place it
blocks the light from the blue bulb to make a green shadow. When you move the object
close to the screen you will get a very dark (black) shadow, where the object blocks both
lights.

When you turn off the green light, leaving the red and blue lights on, the screen will appear
to be magenta, a mixture of red and blue. The shadows will be red and blue.

When you turn off the blue light, leaving the red and green lights on, the screen will appear
to be yellow. The shadows will be red and green.

It may seem strange that a red light and a green light mix to make yellow light on a white
screen. A mixture of red and green light stimulates the red and green receptors on the retina
of your eye. Those same receptors are also stimulated by yellow light --- that is, by light
from the yellow portion of the rainbow. When the red and green receptors in your eye are
stimulated, whether by a mixture of red and green light, or by yellow light alone, you will see
the color yellow.

Find out what happens when you use different colored paper for the screen. Try yellow,
green, blue, red, purple, and so on.

If you let light from the three bulbs shine through a hole in a card that is held an appropriate
distance from the screen, you will see three separate patches of colored light on the screen,
one from each lamp. (Make the hole large enough to get a patch of color you can really see.)
If you move the card closer to the screen, the patches of light will eventually overlap and
you will see the mixtures of each pair of colors.
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 Soap Bubbles
Create geometric art with soap films.
Using pipe cleaners and drinking straws, you can
make three-dimensional geometric frames: cubes,
tetrahedrons, or shapes of your own design. When
you dip these frames in a soap solution, the soap
films that form on the frames are fascinating and
colorful.

• Plastic drinking straws.

• Pipe cleaners (available at school supply, hobby, or party stores).
• A small bucket or container for the bubble solution. The container must be
large enough so that bubble frames are entirely covered when they are dipped.
• Bubble solution (You can use a commercial solution like Wonder Bubbles™,
or use the Exploratorium's recipe: To each gallon (3.8 1iters) of water add 2/3
cup (160 ml) of Dawn™ or other dishwashing liquid and 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of
glycerine, available at your local pharmacy. Bubble solution works best if it is
aged at least a day before use.)

(30 minutes or less)

Form frames using the drinking straws for the straight pieces. Connect two straws at a
corner by inserting a doubled pipe cleaner into the end of each straw. In places where three
straws meet, fold the pipe cleaners as shown in the diagram. Attach a pipe cleaner handle to
your frame.

Try constructing cubes or tetrahedrons, or just let your imagination run wild. Mix the soap
solution in the bucket. Make sure that you have enough solution to fully cover the frames
when they are dipped.

(15 minutes or more)

Dip the frames into the soap solution, and observe the fascinating geometrical shapes that
the soap films form. Also notice the shimmering colors in the soap film.

As you lift your frame out of the solution, the soap film flows into a state of minimum
energy. The soap film is in a state of minimum energy when it's covering the least possible
amount of surface area. The intricate shapes you see inside the frame represent the
minimum area the soap film can cover. You may notice that a soap film will sometimes take
on different shapes when you dip the frame into the solution again and again. That's because
there may be more than one way for the soap film to form a minimum surface area.

When light waves hit the soap film, they reflect and interfere with each other. This
interference causes the shimmering colors you see. White light is made of many different
colors. When white light shines on the soap film, some light waves reflect from the front
surface of the film and some reflect from the back surface of the film. When these two sets
of reflected waves meet, they can add together, cancel each other out, or partially cancel,
depending on the thickness of the film and the initial color of the light. When light waves of a
particular color meet and cancel each other, then that color is subtracted from white light.
For example, if the red light waves cancel, then you see white light minus red light, which
you perceive as blue-green light.

Plastic bar straws, which have a smaller diameter than regular drinking straws, hold the pipe
cleaners more tightly. But bar straws are more expensive and are sometimes harder to get.
If you can't find them at grocery or liquor stores, try restaurant or party supply stores.
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Size and Distance

A clueless way to determine the size of an object.
You can trick your brain into thinking that two similar objects of different sizes are
really the same size. This is done by removing clues to the actual size and distance
of the objects. You can then compare what you see when you limit your
information to what you see when you have complete information.

• A shoe box with lid.

• 2 straws.
• 2 coins of different sizes (for instance, 1 quarter and 1 dime).
• Modeling clay or Fun Tak™ reusable adhesive.
• Construction paper that contrasts with the inside of the shoe box.
• A piece of posterboard or similar-weight cardboard, a little larger than the
end of the box.
• A knife or scissors.
• Adult help.

(30 minutes or less)

Remove the box lid. At the center of one end-panel of the shoe box, cut a hole large enough
for one-eyed viewing (approximately 1/2 inch [1.3 cm] diameter). Then cut out a window,
approximately 3 x 5 inches (8 x 13 cm), with the viewing hole in the center. Replace the
cardboard in the window from which it was cut, and tape it in place along its bottom edge to
form a hinge inside the box (see diagram).

At the other end of the box, make a hole for each straw approximately 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) to
each side of the center of the panel.

Cut the piece of posterboard so that it is the same height as the box and about 2 inches (5
cm) wider than the box. Fold back 1 inch (2.5 cm) on each side to make two flaps. Make two
holes in the main portion that coincide exactly with the two holes in the end of the box. Tape
or glue the flaps to the inside sides of the box, using them as spacers to position this piece 1
inch (2.5 cm) from the end with the holes (see diagram).

Insert the straws into the holes. The double set of holes will keep the straws properly
aligned.

Using the quarter and dime as templates, cut one circle of each size from the construction
paper. Make sure the color of the construction paper contrasts strongly with the color of the
inside of the box. Use clay to mount the circles on the ends of the straws inside the box.

(15 minutes or more)

With the cover on the box and the hinged window closed, close one eye and look through the
viewing hole at the circles. Lift the end of the box cover closest to you and slide it away from
you until adequate viewing light reaches the inside of the box. Push or pull on the straws
from the outside rear of the box until the mounted circles appear to be the same size. Note
that your depth perception is almost nonexistent: both circles look essentially the same
distance away, and it is very difficult to judge which circle is closest to you.

Fold the window down and look with both eyes to see the actual positions of the circles. (You
may have to move your head back a little from the box to get both circles focused.) Note
that depth perception is now a factor and that the circles no longer look the same size or the
same distance away.

Position the small disk a couple of inches closer to you than the large disk. With both eyes
open, look through the window at the disks. Notice that you have no trouble establishing
their size and distance. Now close one eye. You may notice that it is much more difficult to
tell whether the small disk is now actually a small disk that's close to you, or a large disk
that's far away. You can also use the dime and quarter by themselves, without building the
box, to illustrate the same principle. Close one eye. Holding one coin in each hand, move
them toward or away from your viewing eye until they appear to be the same size. A solid-
color background gives less distraction than an irregular background. A very bright, solid-
colored background works best, so that the coins appear essentially in silhouette and their
features cannot be easily distinguished.

Large, distant objects can appear to be the same size as small, nearby objects. Under
normal viewing conditions, with both eyes open, you have the ability to perceive depth. If
two objects appear to be the same size, but you know that one is farther away than the
other, your brain tells you that the distant object is larger.

When one eye is closed, your depth perception is impaired. In the case of the circles, you
can't tell how far away either of the circles really is. Since they are not actually the same
size, this means that, for the smaller one to look the same size as the larger one, it will have
to be closer to you than the larger one.

With both eyes open, you can gather more information and more points of view, and so you
can make more accurate judgments about an object's size, shape, and distance from you.

There is a pattern on the pupa of the butterfly Spalgis epius that looks like the face of a
rhesus macaque monkey. Even though the pupa is only half as wide as a human fingernail, it
still seems to scare away predatory birds who mistake it for a more distant, and therefore
larger, monkey.
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Real Image
A snack version of Mirror Mirage
Create the image of an object in space using a $2 ornament.

• 4" silvered plastic Christmas tree ornament

These ornaments are available in the months preceeding Christmas from Michael's Craft
Stores.

Using a band saw cut the top off one half of the ornament creating a circular hole that is
about 3.5 cm in diameter. You will be trimming only 0.5 cm off the top. Then trim a slice 1.8
cm off the bottom of the same half. Remove the little bits of plastic carefully with a soft
cloth. Place the trimmed half inside the unaltered half.

Place an object, such as a pushpin, inside the sphere. View the image at an angle nearly
horizontal to your eye. Locate the image of the object that has the same orientation as the
object. Touch the image with a finger.

You are seeing an image formed by two concave mirrors facing one another. The object is
placed at the center of the bottom mirror. The curvature of the mirrors is such that the
object is at the focal point of the top mirror.

When light from a point on the object hits the top mirror, it reflects in parallel rays. These
parallel rays hit the bottom mirror and reflect so that they reassemble to form a point
located at one focal length from the bottom mirror. The mirrors are placed so that the focal
point of the bottom mirror is located at the hole in the top of the device. The end result is
that light from every point on the object is assembled into an image in the hole.

The ray diagram may help explain this effect.

By
Heidi Strahm Black
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