Jacob’s Ladder Magic: disappearing coins demonstrate another non-intuitive aspect of the hinge mechanism of this classic toy. The earliest description of the ribbon hinge mechanism that creates the kinetic illusion of cascading blocks comes from a magazine article in Scientific American in 1889. Photochromic Plastic: the pigment in this fish pendant temporarily changes color when exposed to short wavelength light such as UV from the sun. A violet 405 nm laser can be used to trigger the temporary molecular reconfiguration. After about 5 minutes the plastic fades back to its original color. Fire Piston: rapid adiabatic compression creates enough heat to ignite and incinerate a small ball of cotton. Similar physics to how Diesel engines ignite fuel without a sparkplug. Many thanks to Dustin James for supplying this quality demonstration model via bushcrafttools. Vortex Marble: glass art intersects with the physics of optics in this 1.5 inch dichroic vortex marble by Scott Pernicka internalfireglass. The clear glass face acts as a convex lens giving the illusion that the spiral goes twice as deep as the diameter of the marble. The illusion is even stronger in person. I discovered the art of lampworking when I purchased this piece from a gallery on visit to the central coast of CA in 2005. Poly Density Puzzle: my favorite science brain teaser- white beads and blue beads "float" oddly separated beneath the surface of a clear liquid. If the contents are mixed by shaking the container, the white beads gather at the top and the blue sink to bottom! Adding to the mystery; after about 30 seconds the two layers of beads will have slowly moved back to the middle. What is your guess as to the physics behind this behavior? Plasma Globe: low pressure noble gasses glow from high voltage. A small high frequency coil at center creates the high voltage potential between the center electrode and the metal coated glass globe. Current flow through the thin gas produces the colorful emission spectra from the gasses.Magnetic Seal & Ball: as the seal nears, the ball spins and moves away. Clever placement and orientation of magnets in the seal and ball produce this effect in this toy from Germany. Extra magnet in the nose to store/ display the ball. Conical Mirror Anamorphosis: simple geometry reflected in to a cone becomes a flower
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