Make lenses from Jell-O
The Optical Society of America has a very cool site about the science of light. I found instructions for making lenses from Jell-O and ice, with a great explanation of how lenses work.
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optics
Lensless micro-microscope on a chip
Fig. 1 (a) Architecture of the optofluidic microscope (OFM); set of three arrows: illumination; single arrow: flow direction. (b) Photograph of the OFM prototype compared with a U.S. quarter. The actual nanoaperture array is 600 µm long. (c) The top view of the OFM; denotes the isolated aperture; denotes the corresponding aperture, as explained in […]
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Fiber light pipe @ Maker Faire
What’s a maker to do when they’re living area lacks proper exposure to our nearest star? Channel sunlight from the roof via parabolic dish, fiber optic cabling, and textured distribution panel. Kate Green explains – The problem is this: the living room in my San Francisco doesn’t get much sunlight due to one window being […]
Continue ReadingHand-drawn holograms
Jason has a cool item on Hackszine about lo-tek “abrasion holography:” Typically the creation of a hologram involves lasers and various other expensive equipment and materials. William J. Beaty figured out a low-tech way to create your own holograms using a simple abrasion technique that requires only a compass and a chunk of plastic. He […]
Continue ReadingLaser beam alarm system
Kip Kay has a new video and Instructable on building a laser-beam-triggered alarm system. I don’t know that I’d want to rely on such a thing for actual security, but it might be a fun project nonetheless. Protect Your Home with Laserbeams! – Link
Continue ReadingHomemade 400mm binoscope
A big Keanu “whoa!” for this 400mm binoscope (binocular telescope) being built by an enterprising Frenchman. He’s spent three years on it so far. It’s not done, but it is operational. The engineering on this is gorgeous. The carriage system is almost as cool as the scope itself! There’s only one other video on YouTube, […]
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