Optical illusion science fair projects

Build an Infinity Mirror www. This engineering project is best described by the engineering design process, as opposed to the scientific method. You might want to ask your teacher whether it's acceptable to follow the engineering design process for your project before you begin.

Build an Infinity Mirror www. This engineering project is best described by the engineering design process, as opposed to the scientific method.

Design Your Infinity Mirror After watching the video in the Introductionsketch out a design for your mirror on paper. Remember that this project follows the engineering design process — and engineers always make plans before they start building anything!

The steps below are guidelines for things you probably want to consider when designing an infinity mirror. You get to choose what your mirror looks like, and you do not have to follow Optical illusion science fair projects pictures or ideas exactly.

Once you are happy with a design for your infinity mirror, you can create a list of parts and go back to the Materials list for specifics. The first decision you will need to make is how big and what shape you want your infinity mirror to be. This will determine the size and shape of the box or case you use, along with the regular mirror and piece of plexiglass.

Be careful with box and mirror sizing. Remember that you can also use the lid of the box which will be slightly largeror build your own custom-sized box out of cardboard or cardstock. You might want to use two boxes, one slightly larger than the other.

This way, you can pack the wiring for your lights between the two boxes so you do not have extra wiring dangling from the outside of your infinity mirror. The infinity mirror on the left uses a single box, which leaves the LED strand wiring exposed on the outside. This can look a little messy.

This lets you put the LED wiring in between the two boxes, giving the outside of the box a much cleaner appearance.

But remember, your design choices are up to you! Think ahead about how you will cut your plexiglass to the appropriate size and shape for your mirror, and what tools you will need see Figure 4.

Adult supervision is required when using sharp handheld tools or power tools. Always wear appropriate safety gear e.

In general, it is easier to cut rectangular pieces of plexiglass than circular or irregularly shaped pieces. You can do this by scoring straight lines in the plexiglass using a utility knife or special plastic-cutting knife, and then breaking the plexiglass along the scored line.

If you need to cut a circle, you can use a fine-toothed jigsaw blade or bandsaw. Some vendors sell precut circles of plexiglass see the materials section for details.

In both cases, C-clamps are extremely helpful for safely holding the plexiglass down to the edge of a work table. Two different ways to cut plexiglass, depending on the shape of your mirror.

To make rectangular cuts, score a straight line with a knife and then snap the pieces off left. To make circular or irregular cuts, use a fine-toothed jigsaw blade right. Determine what type of lights you want to use.

Do Girls Spot Optical Illusions Faster Than Boys?

Figure 5 shows several different light options. You can figure out how many lights or how long of a strand of them you need by calculating the inside perimeter of your infinity mirror. You can still use a longer strand, but you will have to bundle up all the extra lights. Do not cut off any extra lights unless the instructions that come with the lights say it is OK to do so.

Certain LED strips can be cut to a shorter length, and some cannot. Be sure to read the product information before you purchase an LED strip, to make sure it will work for your project. If you are using individual LEDs, you will have to figure out how closely spaced you want them to be, and then purchase enough to fill your mirror.

You will also need additional materials battery pack, connecting wire, a soldering iron, and a resistor to connect them — see the technical note below. Clockwise from top left: Calculating resistor and battery pack size when using individual LEDs Note: Read this section only if you are soldering your own circuit using individual LEDs.

If you are soldering your own circuit using individual LEDs, you will have to pick an appropriate battery pack and resistor based on the current and voltage requirements of your LEDs.

This assumes you will be wiring your LEDs in parallel, so they all share the same voltage drop. You also need to include a current-limiting resistor.Optical Illusion science fair projects and experiments: topics, ideas, resources, and sample projects.

Mar 20,  · This science fair project idea determines if females or males tend to do better on optical illusion tests and whether certain age groups also do better. Science Science project/5(). Create a cool optical illusion with LEDs by following these simple steps to design and build an infinity mirror.

Explore Optical Illusions: Build an Infinity Mirror. If you have specific questions about your science fair project or science fair, our team of volunteer scientists can help. Boston University's Project LITE site has a number of very good applets demonstrating optical illusions The optical illusion contest web page is a good source for new optical illusions together with documentation.

The Perceptual Science Group at MIT has some unique optical illusions and some remarkable research papers online. Apr 09,  · To demonstrate various kinds of optical illusions.

The student has the option to deal with illusions in general or to specialize in a particular type of illusion. caninariojana.com provides the Science Fair Project Ideas for informational purposes only. caninariojana.com does not make any guarantee or /5(61).

Optical Illusion science fair projects and experiments: topics, ideas, resources, and sample projects.