Harmonograph The oscillations of pendulums can be recorded in a mechanical apparatus called harmonograph (harmonía “harmony”, graphein “to write, draw”). The harmonic motions of the pendulums lead to beautiful geometric images. The drawings are typically Lissajous curves or related drawings of greater complexity. Our harmonograph uses three pendulums to control […]
experiments
14 posts
Double Pendulum The pendulum is a highly important system in physics. The oscillations carried out by a pendulum find relevance in many different fields. In reality we cannot merely consider isolated oscillations. Everything is linked, nothing stands for itself. The movement of a single pendulum can be described relatively easily. […]
Bloom Our eyes are easy to trick. In the presence of light we can perceive visually, in the absence of light we cannot. An alternating presence and absence of light can be created using a stroboscope, something we usually associate with the disorienting environment of a club. In the presence […]
Wave Pendulum The pendulum, a harmonic oscillator, can be found in various fields such as quantum physics, electronics, and even acoustics. The speed of a pendulum does not depend on its mass, which seems counter-intuitive at first. A longer pendulum swings slower than a shorter one, its speed depends only […]
Reverse Waterfall We rely on our intuition more than we realise. How often do we stop to question if what we just witnessed really did happen? It could have just as well been an illusion or a misunderstanding. We perceive the world selectively and rely on our expectations. We are […]
Vortex Cannon Surely you have seen a person exhaling the smoke of a cigarette, cigar or pipe, forming a small but persistent ring rising up in the air. Scaled up and cleaned from the toxicity of the tobacco smoke, the Vortex Cannon shoots thick rings of foggy air which travels […]
Rubens’ Tube Sound propagates like waves. These sound waves overlap when they collide and interfere with each other. Thus, the waves amplify or cancel each other out. If two waves, which run in opposite directions in space, overlap in such a way that the resulting wave stands still (nodes) in […]
Non-Newtonian Fluids This interactive experiment deals with a sub-area of rheology that describes the flow properties and viscosity of liquids. While water always remains liquid under pressure, there are so-called non-Newtonian fluids that become more solid or liquid when pressure is applied. In the case of our installation, we use […]
Acoustic Lens It is well-known that sound is a wave, in the same way that light can be described as one. Waves, no matter if they are mechanical or electromagnetic, share properties. Any wave can be diffracted and therefore focussed in one physical point. Known to most of us are […]
Infinity Cubez When two mirrors face each other, infinite reflections emerge. In this infinity “cube” or rather dodecahedron, not only two, but twelve half transparent mirrors are involved. LEDs placed on every edge create a deep 3 dimensional space which can be quite hypnotizing. http://infinitycubez.de/ http://xstageproject.project-sci.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/infinitycubes_clip.mov
Chladni Sound Figures Around 1800, Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni travelled through Europe and fascinated people with his plates that make sound visible. He sprinkled sand onto metal plates that were firmly fixed in the centre and made them vibrate with a stroke of his violin bow. Some frequencies manifest on […]
Video Feedback Self-referencing systems often exhibit interesting behaviour. In this simple video feedback installation, it can be seen how coupling a system with itself leads to self-organization and complex phenomena like pattern formation. The mathematics underlying the video feedback are similar to the reaction-diffusion equations that are attributed to the […]
Ferrofluids This interactive experiment deals with magnetic liquids. Under a glass dome is a bath of ferromagnetic fluid a liquid that becomes strongly magnetized in the presence of a magnetic field. With a joystick, it is possible to apply a strong magnetic field to the Iron-spiral. The ferrofluid not just […]
Moiré Patterns The term moiré originates from the french and describes a specific fabric, traditionally made of silk. It is created by pressing two layers of thin fabric onto each other when wet. The arrangement of the fibres in the two layers are almost identical but naturally contain small irregularities. It […]