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Yes to overhead projectors. Passe as A/V, still great for many kinds of
demos, especially in the light/color/astro realm. In addition to the wave
tank function Jeff Courtman mentioned, most of the following ideas are out
there, plus probably many more I don't know:
- Make a planetarium by punching holes in foil or Cinefoil (carefulness
pays off); mask individual constellations one at a time, then reveal all.
Wow!
- Show the centerlessness of Hubble expansion using two transparencies
differing in size by a couple of percent
- Subtractive color mixing
- Moire patterns
- Clear incandescent lamp on the Fresnel lens, powered via dimmer: like a
sunspot, the filament can appear in silhouette against main lamp but still
be luminous
- Great light source when you need a "sun" that makes crisp shadows
- Mask off a slit, place Starlab diffraction grating after the projection
lens to project nice spectra
- Invented by planetarium director Roland Szostak in Germany >20 years
ago: punch pinholes in one of two polarizers (has to be the right, thin,
stuff); superimpose, rotate; it's like a sky getting dark revealing stars.
(It's a beautiful effect, but I'm still looking for more of the right
polarizing material.)
We have an ancient "Unique Lighting Handbook" by Edmund Scientific that
has recipes for dropping dyes into a pan of liquid on an OH projector for
multimedia happenings.
Finally, kids love to just look at the thing and figure out how it works.
All the parts are clearly visible, unlike a video or even a slide
projector.
Steve Fentress, Director
Strasenburgh Planetarium
Rochester Museum & Science Center
657 East Avenue
Rochester, NY 14607 USA
e-mail [log in to unmask]
www.rmsc.org
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