Deja Vu II: KInetic Art
Get this amazing work of art and craftsmenship from this source:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Deja Vu II Kinetic Art
See this other amazing device from this creator: Impossible Marble Machine
Deja Vu II: astonishing spring powered kinetic art. Crafted from wood this device has two disks (swipe to see partly disassembled) and each has a pattern of curved spokes that can rotate at different rates and direction to produce interesting illusions of motion via moiré interference effects. A ribbon spring drives an ingenious mechanism that uses ratchets (and the rotational momentum of the disks) to create the various visual modes- a half rotation of the disks will result in 20+ minutes of motion. With a full loading of the spring hours of motion will ensue. Another amazing creation by artist and designer William Le.
Vortex Dome
Get one from David Fowler's online shop:
From PhysicsHack: BUY NOW: Vortex Dome Kalliroscope
Made with extraordinary craftsmanship and high quality materials, and sold at a very reasonable price!
Vortex Dome Kalliroscope: kinetic art with rheoscopic fluid in a rotating base. Visualizing the invisible- the Vortex Dome is the creation of engineer/inventor and @physicsfun featured artist David Fowler aka @physicshack who creates this modern rotating kalliroscope that generates complex and beautiful structures similar to those seen in the cloud bands of the gas giants of our solar system like Jupiter. The capsule is constructed of high quality glass on a heavy stainless steel base which glides upon an included bearing set for long spin times.
Magnetic Flux Gyroscope Pendant
Magnetic Flux Pendants and other amazing science inspired jewelry available here:
From Foxtail Jewelry: BUY NOW: Kinetic Magnetic Pendants
Magnetic Flux Gyroscope Pendant: two neodymium magnets on chains remain suspended by their mutual magnetic attraction. This kinetic art necklace design is from a new line of physics inspired jewelry- a collaboration with designer and artist Betsy Yates of @foxtailjewelry who so masterfully brought this concept to life and is currently featuring @physicsfun inspired pendants in her gallery and store.
Polage
Click on any image to see a short video of more polage in action:
From Austine Studios: Polarized Light Art
Sometimes Austine's work can be found on eBay:
From eBay: SEARCH Polage by Austine
Click this link for more physics fun with polarization.
Here is a very nice discussion about polarization that pertains to Polage: Experiments With Polarized Light by Donald E. Simanek
Polage: art with polarized light using polarizing sheets and cellulose to create changing forms and colors. Rotation of the filter allows the artist to incorporate more than one image and produce colorful metamorphosis. This piece was created by Austine Wood Comarow- the main developer of this art form- and this piece is signed "Young Rose 1987 28/50". Light has an orientation, denoted as polarization, and a polarizing filter can be used to block certain orientations. The colors in polage come from how the molecular structure of plastics can rotate the polarization of any light that passes through- but only light corresponding to yellows and greens gets rotated in plastic, reds and blues not so much. Polage uses different layers of plastic to rotate the light, and then polarizing filters are added to allow only certain frequencies (colors) of light through.
Surf's Up!
Kyle Auga-- kinetic sculptures:
Check out Kyle's art here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW Kyle's Kinetics
Surf's Up!: Another gravity defying creation by Kyle Auga, this time a well-balanced stainless steel surfer that carves waves in the air for over 10 minutes on one push! The surfer has the curious motion of a 3D physical pendulum- a complex motion which can be broken down into oscillations along two dimensions and rotation about the point of contact. The stick figure plus counterweights and bar structure is designed such that its center of mass is few centimeters below the contact point when at rest. When the sculpture is tipped the center of mass swings under the pivot point in this stable equilibrium condition- no magnets needed to create this physics magic.
Pocket Scintillator Kinetic Art
Logan sometimes has items for sale here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: PocketScintillators
Pocket Scintillator Card: three sheets of seemingly random arrays of translucent colored pixels produce words and images when stacked- shift the stack of sheets and a second images appears! Innovative kinetic optical art by inventor, artist, software developer Logan Kerby @thanksplease who kindly sent me these cards encoded with @physicsfun themes.
Fresnel Minor Lamp
See the gallery of work by the artist:
Art Gallery: inquire about availability
Sean Agustine March
Fresnel Minor Lamp: Microlayers of metals and metal oxides allow a slab of glass to transmit a different color than it reflects through thin-film optical phenomena such as interference and selective absorption. In this remarkable art piece, dichroic glass is combined with infinity mirror type multiple reflections creating this dazzling display of physics! Special thanks to @seanaugustinemarch for this amazing addition to my collection.
Lenticular Lithograph
Kinetic lenticular lithographs from Jeff Johnson available here:
From eBay: BUY NOW: Lenticular Lithographic Art
Lenticular Lithograph: amazing art from the 1990s by Jeff Johnson that uses an array of thin acrylic cylinders to produce this three image crossfade effect. As the viewer moves from one vantage point to another the geometric image morphs from among three designs. I obtained this artwork slightly damaged- it was missing some of the cylindrical lenses- but I was able to purchase the right size acrylic rod to make the needed repairs (swipe for details and added insight to how this lenticular effect is achieved).
The Lollipopter
Many styles/colors to choose from:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Lollipopter Kinetic Art
The Lollipopter (The Helicone): one of my favorite interactive kinetic sculpture designs. With a bit of practice one can master the transformation in both directions: A snap of the wrist imparts angular momentum to the "petals" which then rotate until an internal mechanism stops their motion with predetermined spacing- a helix transforms to an abstract pine cone. A second snap of the wrist in the opposite direction returns the helix. A creation by artist John Edmark.
Infinity Cube Sculpture
Get an infinity cube here (many colors and sizes to choose from):
From Ricardo Churchill (Etsy): BUY NOW: Infinity Cube
Infinity Cube Sculpture: crafted from solid stainless steel and powder coated orange, the geometry of this mathematical sculpture is the perimeter of the faces of a cube traced by a nonintersecting connection of equal line segments. When viewed from a corner, a cube has a hexagonal cross section, and some may recall the famous logo of Silicon Graphics computers based on such an infinity cube (a design by Scott Kim). Rotating this “tubed cube” along a diagonal axis reveals the interesting symmetries of this geometric construction.
Strandbeest Mini
Get one here! Make sure to get the Jr. Scientist version of this kit for best results.
From Amazon: BUY NOW Strandbeest Model Kit
Read about Theo Jansen and his novel leg linkage mechanism for the Strandbeests via these Wiki pages.
Strandbeest Mini: A fully working model of artist Theo Jansen's Strandbeest kinetic sculpture which features Jansen's linkage- a unique leg mechanism which converts rotary motion of a crackshaft into smooth walking motion. Jansen's creations are usually a couple meters high and walk the beaches of the Netherlands powered by the wind. This version comes as a model kit that snaps together with no glue- a really fun project!
Chil Balance Sculpture
This elegant design comes ready to assemble in your choice of four colors:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Chil Balance Bird
Chil Balance Sculpture: the mass and orientation of the wings creates a center of mass below this sleek bird's beak- making a system that will rotate and oscillate about a stable equilibrium. No magnets! An elegant sculpture by artist Bin Xu of BinDesign that comes ready to assemble complete with stand,
The Dancing Helix
Get one here! Chose your color scheme and length, all come with the special motor and operating instructions:
From Educational Innovations: BUY NOW: Dancing Helix
The Dancing Helix: This kinetic mobile's mesmerizing motion arises from pulsed torsion waves that propagate up and down the length of a series of weighed rods connected by an elastic ribbon (which acts as a torsion spring). The waves arise by a special pulsed motor from which the strand hangs, and only spins for a second or so out of each minute. The twisting waves then constructively and deconstructively interfere creating an array of flowing motions.
Planetary Gear Train
From Rail and Oak: the Esty shop of Logan Needham
From Etsy: BUY NOW Planetary Gear System
Planetary Gear Train: with non-circular gears! This piece of kinetic art features a 6-sided Sun Gear, six 3-sided Planetary Gears, all held within the 12-sided space of the Annular Gear. The video captures three of the many interesting modes of these epicylic gear systems: 1) holding the sun gear fixed while rotating the annular gear allows the planetary gears to orbit, 2) pinning the planetary gears such that they can spin (but not orbit) allows the sun gear to go in the reverse direction of the annular gear, 3) holding one planetary gear fixed produces curious motion- note that although the other planetary gears move they do not spin about their axes! Situation 2) is how reverse gear is accomplished in the transmissions of many vehicles. Thanks to Logan Needham (@pillagethenburn) for the ingenuous display stand that allows full demonstration of this work of physics and engineering art.
Maxwell's Dynamical Top: Historical Replica
Get this accurate and beautiful 1/2 scale replica here:
From Machined Marvels: BUY NOW: Maxwell's Dynamical Top
Maxwell’s Dynamical Top: one of my favorite demonstrations of the strange properties of rotating bodies- shown here with a 1/2 scale but exacting replica of the famous “Dynamical Top” created and demonstrated by the great physicist James Clerk Maxwell in 1857. When this brass bell shaped top is spinning an interesting stability can occur- push on the pointed stem and the top will push back, forcing the stem against that object, and friction will cause the stem to roll along and trace the edge of the object. Note- magnets are NOT involved here. The key to this design is to make the contact point/tip of the top at its own center of mass, then any frictional force in contact with the stem will produce a torque about the contact point at a right angle to the direction of friction that creates the stabilizing force (students of physics may recognize application of the right hand rule here). This beautiful historical replica is now available from machinist and creator Jim Peever @machinedmarvels- and as far as I know the only other replicas of this device where made in the 1880’s!
Pisces Kinetic Art Lamp
The Pisces Lamp is now avaialbel for purchase here:
BUY NOW: Pisces Kinetic Art Lamp
From the same artist who created the Aquarius Fountian Lamp
Pisces Kinetic Art Lamp: standing waves of a rotating string are illuminated by strobing light in this new kinetic sculpture by artist and computer engineer Stephen Co. With the help of programmable micro-controllers, strips of addressable RBG LEDs are made to flash in sequences that make the rotating string change colors, merge into spoon shaped surfaces, or split into multiple braids. The string is propelled by small motors and the standing waves can have multiple nodes, which can be altered by touching the string while in motion.