A Fantascope Run

Your brain isn't as good as you might think. It's easily confused. Show it a single imagine and your brain can pretty well handle that. But if you show it a series of rapidly changes pictures, it becomes overwhelmed. Instead of sorting them out as single and distinct frames, it blends them together and creates the illusion of smooth motion. In the 1800s, a popular child's toy called the fantascope produced an image changing vantage that resulted in this motion illusion. Here's your chance to build one of these devices and use it to observe the illusion of a person's run.

Copy of fantascope disk on heavy stock paper
Heavy stock paper
Glue
Scissors
Push pin
Pencil
Mirror




1. Use a scissors to carefully cut out the fantascope disk. Take care to cut each of the notches located along the rim of the disk.

2. Insert a pushpin through the center of the disk. The pin should be inserted so that the pointed end extends out the back (and non-printed) side of the disk.

3. Anchor the pin in the eraser tip of a pencil.

4. With the disk images facing away, peer through one of the notches at a nearby mirror. Position this mirror so that you can observe the reflection of the images displayed on the disk's front side.

5. Gently spin the disk while looking through the series of notches that "gate" your view of the images. Keep your focus on the disk's reflection.

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http://www.navy.com/education