Tuesday, September 29, 2009

ABC Wednesday

K is for Kaleidoscope



"A kaleidoscope is a tube of mirrors containing loose colored beads, pebbles or other small colored objects. The viewer looks in one end and light enters the other end, reflecting off the mirrors. Typically there are two rectangular lengthwise mirrors. Setting of the mirrors at 45° creates eight duplicate images of the objects, six at 60°, and four at 90°. As the tube is rotated, the tumbling of the colored objects presents the viewer with varying colors and patterns. Any arbitrary pattern of objects shows up as a beautiful symmetric pattern because of the reflections in the mirrors. A two-mirror model yields a pattern or patterns isolated against a solid black background, while a three-mirror (closed triangle) model yields a pattern that fills the entire field".

extracted from a great article on Kaleidoscopes by Evad that can be accessed here.

If you would like to make your own 'hold-in-the-hand-and-up-to-the-eye' Kaleidoscope you can find instructions here.



Kids of all ages love them, - go ahead and make one or two, or a dozen!



And if you would like to have fun creating a virtual kaleidoscope, here is the place to go.

Visit ABC Wednesday to see what other intriguing things K stands for by clicking here.

15 comments:

Sylvia K said...

Clever word for the K day! And beautiful shots! The first one is stunning and colorful!

Sylvia

Tumblewords: said...

I love kaleidoscopes - have never tried to make one - guess I'll check it out as it sounds like great fun!

magiceye said...

beautiful image to represent K

Rune Eide said...

Kaleidoscopes gives an endless amount of fun, especially now that you can create your own on the screen.

Carol said...

A beautiful blue kaleidoscope image....I enjoy kaleidoscopes now as much as I did when I was a child. This is great for K....

kanishk said...

I love kaleidoscopes - have never tried to make one - guess I'll check it out as it sounds like great fun
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The Weaver of Grass said...

I just love them Hildred. As I child I got such pleasure from them and it all started again when my grandchildren were small. I am now going to go to the site you suggest - can't wait to see how to make one.

Joy said...

Kalaidoscopes are beautiful and a link to a project, good post. I read something, some time ago, about one of the latest theory of how the brain works involved a similarity to kalaidoscopes.

Shirl said...

Oh I use to love these things as a kid. Forgotten how beautiful they are!
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Rose said...

I always wondered how they worked! To this day, I'm still fascinated by kaleidoscopes and can't resist looking into one. I don't know how good I would be at making one, but I'll have to check out the virtual instructions.

Roger Owen Green said...

very fond of the never-ending visuals of them. thanks.

EG CameraGirl said...

This is GREAT! I'm surprised how well the top photo turned out. The glass bits look like jewels.

Dimple said...

I haven't looked through a kaleidoscope since my children were young. Might have to make one!

Gerald (Ackworth born) said...

I remember having great fun with them as a child but that was a long time ago.

Jay said...

Oooh, that would be a fun project, wouldn't it? I might try that. Most interesting post, with the detail on how to arrange the mirrors!