2nd Grade Holography

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Mon May 16, 2011 8:27 am

I am presenting a little talk to my son's second grade class on holography in a few weeks.
I have a few analogies on what holograms are and how they are made but I would love to have some input from you all as well.
I know the 8 year olds just want to touch them and Ooo and Ahhh on seeing them but if I can somehow instill a bit of science and maybe even humor, they might actually remember more.
Any ideas would be welcomed!!

holomaker · Post by **holomaker** » Mon May 16, 2011 9:17 am

Nice to hear the "word" is being passed on Tony. I did the same last year and only pushed the phrase "you need laser light to make a hologram" as they seem to digest this nicely, when is the class? I also brought in a small laser and shot a quick diffraction starfield onto the ceiling while the lights were still dim from viewing holograms, and that seemed to get quite a few ooohs and ahhhhas ! There will be many questions and the time will pass quickly! Ill show you a picture of the kids viewing (if i can find it). If you want to buy your kid an "A" (as i did), make the teacher a DCG name plate with her name projected a bit! Another cool thing is if you can hand out some holograms to the kids in the class too,(let me know if you need some). Good luck!

Jeffrey Weil · Post by **Jeffrey Weil** » Mon May 16, 2011 11:08 am

If you have a laser with you expand it and bounce it off a second surface mirror. In the reflected beam will be very strong interference lines. They will even show how irregular the surface of the mirror is.

Since its a mirror and not just a thick piece of glass your reflection will be very strong and you won't have to shut all the lights in the room off.

Jeff Weil
NorthBeach Holography Inc.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Tue May 17, 2011 8:17 am

Many thanks guys.
I tried the mirror idea last night and tried it with my son, he seemed to get it. Although I am a little concerned that he is a bit afraid of lasers

The interference lines were pretty cool.

Thanks for the offer Dave, I have a fair amount of holograms to show, a few of yours of coarse and I think the ones Bob Hess has been nice enough to give me will be a big hit as they often are with the neighborhood kids.

I will let you know how it goes in a few weeks.

If there are any other fun analogies out there I would appreciate it....

holomaker · Post by **holomaker** » Wed May 18, 2011 5:09 am

Tony wrote:Thanks for the offer Dave, I have a fair amount of holograms to show,If there are any other fun analogies out there I would appreciate it....

I was meaning that you could give each kid a hologram to take home with them..........befor polaroid closed the gave me plenty in the name of "education" how many kids in the class?

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Wed May 18, 2011 9:45 am

Oh I see:)
Thanks Dave that would be awesome.
He has 24 kids
If you wouldn't mind I would deeply appreciate it.
Do you still have my address?

Thanks again,
Tony

Dinesh · Post by **Dinesh** » Fri May 20, 2011 11:15 am

I can think of two of ways:
Get an H1 of something made from about 8 inches from the plate (I have one if you want). get a store bought laser of less than about a milliwatt or so and a cheap negative lens. Put some sand in a tray, perhaps a processing tray; make a crude "plateholder" - two pieces of plywood stuck together with a groove works nicely and is easy to make - Place laser in sand (with suitable support and tape down the 'on' button), place "plateholder" in tray; expand laser to illuminate H1to show the pseudo; turn down the lights; watch the kids paw at the image!

Get a clean piece of glass and a a spray bottle (perfume atomiser, for example). Spray a very fine mist onto the glass. Illuminate the glass with the (unexpanded) laserbeam and allow the resulting pattern to hit a wall. If the water droplets are fine enough, you get a "chaos patter" on the wall which looks like a blob with a lot of sharp spikes. Theses spikes dance all over the place and the effect is pretty stunning. If the water droplets are not fine enough, hold the laser in place for a few seconds and the laser will begin to evaporate the water droplets resulting in just a blob "growing" crazy spikes.

It's difficult showing this effect because the pattern dances around fairly quickly, but here's the effect as best as I could photograph it: