Holograms are a three dimensional display of light that appear to come to life in mid-air. They've been a huge part of science fiction movies for years, and in real life, we're starting to break through different kinds of technologies that can reproduce these effects.
In fact, scientists recently came up with a very special laser-based hologram technology that fires a laser very rapidly (a matter of femtoseconds) to produce a hologram with haptic feedback. But this is advanced technology that likely won't be out on the market for years.
However, with a little smoke and mirrors, and a little bit of your own time, you can create the effect of a hologram using just some household materials and your favorite smartphone.
Doing this is relatively easy; you'll want one of your old plastic CD cases that you don't need anymore; the clearer the plastic, the better the hologram will appear. You'll also need a pen, a razor blade/scalpel/plastic cutter, some tape, some graph paper, a ruler, and some scissors.
The goal here is to measure out on the graph paper a template for the clear trapezoid you'll be making out of the old CD case. You can measure out the size you want using your ruler, and then draw the template on the graph paper.
Next, you can cut out those template pieces using your scissors, and place them on the back of your CD case, which you'll then use your razor blade to carve the shape of your template into the clear plastic.
When you're done cutting (being careful not to cut yourself), you will have four two-dimensional trapezoids that you have to tape together to create a three-dimensional trapezoid. What you'll end up with is a small hole at the bottom, and a larger one at the top.
Now, you can load up a very specific video on your smartphone's display (look at the bottom of this piece for a link to the video), center it the best you can, and then place this three-dimensional trapezoid you just made small-end-down on your smartphone's display over the video, and what you'll see from looking straight at the trapezoid is what appears to be a miniature hologram.
You can watch the video demonstration below:
This is a great little science project to do alongside your children, but it's a good idea to make sure an adult does all the cutting for their safety. We're sure they'll be wowed!
NOTE: You'll find the video you need for making these holograms come to life in the video description of the video shown above. You'll need to visit YouTube to find it, or follow this link: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsg8KDKVNGE)
Source: Mrwhosetheboss (YouTube)
Technology
AUG 12, 2015