Libyan Desert Glass
Get a sample of desert glass here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW Desert Glass Specimen
Get the nice display stand here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW Caliper Display Stand
Libyan Desert Glass: mysterious ancient natural glass found throughout the Sahara desert of Egypt and Libya. Current best hypothesis is that the glass was created by a very large meteor that exploded in the atmosphere with so much energy that the earth underneath the blast melted into glass. The glass formation happened about 26 million years ago, but a scientific consensus on how exactly this happened has not been achieved.
Carved Heart Minerals that Glow
Similar mineral carvings available here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Fluorescent Pink Calcite Heart
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Phosphorescent Septaria Heart
You will also want an awesome UV flashlight like this one:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: High Power UV Light
Ultraviolet Valentines: carved from natural minerals these hearts glow with bright fluorescence and (swipe) an afterglow of phosphorescence. When exposed to long wavelength UV light, the pink calcite heart converts the ultraviolet energy into photons of bright red light. The two smaller hearts (swipe) are carved from septarian nodules with honey calcite which fluoresces in pale green, and bands of dark brown argonite which surprisingly glow pale white with an eerie afterglow from phosphorescence when the UV light is switched off.
Rainbow Obsidian
Available here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Rainbow Obsidian Carvings
Rainbow Obsidian: natural volcanic glass with multicolored iridescent layers. When cut and polished at just the right angle with respect to the layers, a pattern of concentric hearts is revealed! The color and iridescent sparkle is due to light interacting with different concentrations of nanoparticle crystals of the mineral hedenbergite in the glass. This carved piece is from a famous quarry near Jalisco Mexico.
Heart Gears
Get a nice 3D print made here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Heart Gears
Or print it yourself:
From Thingverse: Download Free: Heart Gears Print Files
Heart Gears: This 3D print is guaranteed to put your heart in a twist- comprised of eight bevel gears attached to an octahedron center block, with the axis of each gear oriented to the center of each face of the octahedron. Rotate any one gear 360 degrees and the heart shape will reform. Another amazing design by Emmett Lalish, first printed in 2014.
Mag Flip Inverted Pendulum Fidget
Available from this fine vendor:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Mag Flip Desk Toy
Mag Flip Inverted Pendulum Fidget: three embedded neodymium magnets provide tactile repulsive forces in this simple but intriguing system. Pressing down on one side increases the magnetic potential energy that will then send the pendulum into frantic motion until the kinetic energy is damped out after a series of oscillations. This fidget can also be used as a random coin flip with respect to which side it will land.
Magic Portal Illusion
Get one, expertly printed and assembled, here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Magic Portal Illusion Desk Toy
Or print it yourself: 3D Print Files: Magic Portal Desk Toy
Magic Portal Illusion: this astonishing design utilizes the famous barber pole illusion to make it appear as though these colorful strands are passing in and out of a 4th dimension. The mechanical principle employed is similar to that of a lead screw and slider type actuator, except here translating the slider up and down rotates the helical strands at just the right rate to produce the illusion. An amazing 3D print creation of Ada Cohen, printed and assembled by Alex L. Kling.
Hula Hoop Top
Often avaiable from this shop:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Specialty Top Shop
Hula Hoop Top: a stack of wooden rings are dropped on to the shaft of a spinning top resulting in surprisingly organized motion as the rings position themselves with a bit of lag as a function of height. This interesting behavior results from the transfer of rotation kinetic energy from the top to the rings, where the rings do not rotate about their symmetry axis. One of more than 100 unique spinning tops in my collection, received as gift from my friend and fellow collector Tim Rowett, and a product of KreiselArt (Ulrich Büker).
Earth Mass Black Hole
Precision machined tungsten alloy spheres avaulable here:
From STEMCell Science: BUY NOW: Tungsten Black Hole Replica
Earth Mass Black Hole: this sphere of tungsten alloy has a diameter of 17.7mm, a precision representation of the size of the event horizon of a black hole with a mass equal to that of the Earth! If the entire mass of the earth could somehow be compressed to the size of this sphere, it would indeed collapse to a black hole with an event horizon defined by a Schwarzschild radius of 8.87mm. For comparison a black hole with the mass of the sun would be 6km across. This black hole replica is made of one of the densest materials available, a tungsten alloy with ?=18.5 g/cm³ which produces a strange sensation when you hold it, with a weight of twice that of a ball bearing of equal size.
Earth Mass Black Hole with Space Warping Display Stand
Precision machined tungsten alloy spheres available here:
From STEMCell Science: BUY NOW: Tungsten Black Hole Replica
Earth Mass Black Hole: this sphere of tungsten alloy has a diameter of 17.7mm, a precision representation of the size of the event horizon of a black hole with a mass equal to that of the Earth! If the entire mass of the earth could somehow be compressed to the size of this sphere, it would indeed collapse to a black hole with an event horizon defined by a Schwarzschild radius of 8.87mm. For comparison a black hole with the mass of the sun would be 6km across. This black hole replica is made of one of the densest materials available, a tungsten alloy with ρ=18.5 g/cm³ which produces a strange sensation when you hold it, with a weight of twice that of a ball bearing of equal size.
Tenebrescence of Hackmanite
Get a sample here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Hackmanite Samples
You will also want a powerful UV flashlight:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: High Power UV Light
Tenebrescence: a property of the mineral hackmanite which temporarily changes color when exposed to UV light to a deep shade of violet- photochromism from a naturally occurring mineral! Similar physics to phosphorescence (glow in the dark) the purple color fades back to normal over about half an hour, and the mineral can be put into this excited state over and over again by the UV rays of the sun, or this high intensity UV flashlight. Also- hackmanite has a bright orange fluorescent glow under UV.
Sphere and other Orbiforms
Similar items available here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Sphere and Orbiforms
Sphere and other Orbiforms: pi day special post- volumes of constant width made from solid brass. These shapes have constant diameter no matter their orientation and will roll like spheres between two planes- note how the acrylic plate stays parallel to the table as the sphere and other orbiforms roll underneath. The first orbiform is based on the Reuleaux triangle and the second on a Reuleaux pentagon. Fun pi fact- the perimeter of any shape of constant width is alway equal to the diameter(width) multiplied by pi: P=πd.
Squirclusion (Square Circle Illusion)
Get this sculpture here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Squirclusion
Squirclusion (Square Circle Illusion): from one particular point of view this sculpture looks like a circle inside a square, from another, a square inside a circle- a matter of perspective! From other viewing angles one can make out that the underlying curves for each circle/square component are four identical segments of a parabola conjoined. Another reminder of how a single perspective can be misleading. This math sculpture is available as a 3D print, expertly designed and produced by Pyrigan Puzzles.