Illusions

The great artwork of Julian Beever using perspective to transform his sidewalk art into 3 dimensions. See images of before and after his paintings are finished and how he does it.

See Eric Grohe and his mural work using shadows in real world art to transform standard building facades into 3 dimensional dreamscapes. see images of before and after his paintings are finished.

Shadows are ubiquitous, but often go unnoticed. Shadows are important historically, for they provided early evidence that light travels in straight lines. Humans constantly, but unconsciously, use shadows to judge the shape of objects in their environment. Because shadows reveal much about an object’s extension in space, they are often used to heighten the illusion of depth in a painting.

The sky offers a wide variety of stunning optical effects. A source of inspiration for poets and songwriters alike, these atmospheric phenomena include red sunsets, rainbows, mirages, halos, glories, and coronas. These effects are the result of the interaction of light from the sun or moon with the gases in the atmosphere, clouds, ice crystals, smoke, dust and other airborne particulates. Some of these phenomena can be seen almost every day; others occur less frequently. In this issue of CoolStuff we will examine examples of atmospheric optical phenomena and how they may be demonstrated in the classroom.

We've decided it’s time to revisit the Haunted Laboratory in search of even more science tricks and treats.This edition of CoolStuff features some new exhibits designed to put a spooky spin on science. The displays, selected with ease of construction in mind, use materials and apparatus found in most science storerooms.

Although a school's science laboratory is the traditional arena for exploration and experimentation, other venues, such as interactive science centers, do exist. For some time now we have been taking advantage of yet another setting: the home. Using simple materials, our students are encouraged to do science experiments with family and friends. The benefits of at-home science activities are many. They increase the time students are thinking about and doing science. Since many of the explorations focus on counterintuitive phenomena, students delight in sharing unexpected outcomes with others. Needless to say, parents love seeing what their children are doing in school.

As strange as it may seem, science and Halloween do have something in common: they both exemplify our innate fascination with the mysterious. The concept of a haunted science lab was conceived of over twenty years ago by Creighton University physics professor Tom Zepf. It began as a collection of activities in Light, Color and Lasers, a core-curriculum course he was teaching at Creighton. Gradually the annual Halloween event evolved into laboratory-based experience consisting of over three dozen displays demonstrating a wide range of physical principles, all of which invite interaction.