My last few weeks have been filled with many varied projects, including finishing up sitting in on and taking the exams for the summer semesters of Organic Chemistry 1 & 2. But alas, many of my recent projects have either failed or still remain incomplete. None are worthy of their own post at the moment, but some may show up later. So today I bring you an old project: Diffraction Glasses.
The diffraction glasses started with a conversation in the Chem tutor room. A friend brought me a pair of what I thought were 3D glasses. Then she had me put them on. It was SO COOL. Diffraction glasses literally split light into rainbows. Any light emitting object you look at literally has a little rainbow coming off of it. That is a fairly exciting experience for a young scientist/student such as myself. As I was immediately smitten with the glasses, my friend loaned them to me. I wound up keeping them for practically the remainder of the semester, slipping them on and off at odd times, including in class. I particularly enjoyed putting them on in the middle of gen chem, purposely catching my professor off guard (his reaction was nearly always hilarious. The outside of the glasses is fairly gaudy, which may have contributed to the hilarity of the situation).
Since I knew that I eventually had to give the glasses back, and because I wanted to know how they worked, I started researching them, specifically with a view to making my own pair. I read lots of interesting things about them, but one of the most exciting things I learned was how surprisingly easy they are to construct. With a sunglasses framework, a DVD and some scotch tape, you're practically there. Fortunately, I had a pair of broken sunglasses laying around, DVDs left over from the spectrometer project I was in the middle of, and I used some electrical tape to tie them together. Maybe not the prettiest of attire, but they actually work pretty well. For anyone else looking for how to make them, you start by stripping the colored part of the DVD off, which you can do fairly easily by applying scotch or clear tape and then ripping it off the disc so that it (the disc, not the tape) is completely see through (careful - apparently ripping tape like that gives off x-rays! Linky-link to more info. This actually really is not all that new, IFLS decided to report on it recently so it is popular right now). Take the lenses out of the sunglasses, you will replace them with DVD pieces. Cut four pieces of DVD approximately the size of your sunglasses eyes. The trick is getting the angle on the DVD right; you have to take two pieces and turn them just right for each eyepiece. I read somewhere that the two pieces should be at 90° angles to each other (with regards to the lines on the disc), but I actually found it most effective to just experiment with the angles. Plus that was more fun. Once you get the angles right, just tape them in place. I used black electrical tape to make it look good (ha!).
The diffraction glasses started with a conversation in the Chem tutor room. A friend brought me a pair of what I thought were 3D glasses. Then she had me put them on. It was SO COOL. Diffraction glasses literally split light into rainbows. Any light emitting object you look at literally has a little rainbow coming off of it. That is a fairly exciting experience for a young scientist/student such as myself. As I was immediately smitten with the glasses, my friend loaned them to me. I wound up keeping them for practically the remainder of the semester, slipping them on and off at odd times, including in class. I particularly enjoyed putting them on in the middle of gen chem, purposely catching my professor off guard (his reaction was nearly always hilarious. The outside of the glasses is fairly gaudy, which may have contributed to the hilarity of the situation).
Since I knew that I eventually had to give the glasses back, and because I wanted to know how they worked, I started researching them, specifically with a view to making my own pair. I read lots of interesting things about them, but one of the most exciting things I learned was how surprisingly easy they are to construct. With a sunglasses framework, a DVD and some scotch tape, you're practically there. Fortunately, I had a pair of broken sunglasses laying around, DVDs left over from the spectrometer project I was in the middle of, and I used some electrical tape to tie them together. Maybe not the prettiest of attire, but they actually work pretty well. For anyone else looking for how to make them, you start by stripping the colored part of the DVD off, which you can do fairly easily by applying scotch or clear tape and then ripping it off the disc so that it (the disc, not the tape) is completely see through (careful - apparently ripping tape like that gives off x-rays! Linky-link to more info. This actually really is not all that new, IFLS decided to report on it recently so it is popular right now). Take the lenses out of the sunglasses, you will replace them with DVD pieces. Cut four pieces of DVD approximately the size of your sunglasses eyes. The trick is getting the angle on the DVD right; you have to take two pieces and turn them just right for each eyepiece. I read somewhere that the two pieces should be at 90° angles to each other (with regards to the lines on the disc), but I actually found it most effective to just experiment with the angles. Plus that was more fun. Once you get the angles right, just tape them in place. I used black electrical tape to make it look good (ha!).
You may be saying 'okay, how do diffraction glasses work?' That's what I asked. I went around asking for a couple of days before I remembered I have the power of google at my fingertips. Sa-weeeet! (I really love google) Basically what I turned up was a really simple explanation. They work like a prism, separating white light into its individual spectra. Most commercially available glasses are constructed with 'diffraction grating,' which is kind of like really thin strips of plastic with a bunch of parallel scratches on it. They block light where the scratches are and let light through the non scratched parts (if you want to know why that acts as a prism, you're going to have to wait for me to take physics. I don't really get it yet, but from what I understand, it has to do with something called Huygens' Principle). DVDs work similarly, and have lines all the way around them that block light, which is why it works to substitute them for the grating material. The spectrometer is doing almost exactly the same thing as the glasses, taking the split light and looking at the spectra of it. With the spectrometer, you can hook it up to the computer and get really accurate results, but the glasses are significantly more portable, making it easy to compare spectra on the fly. Their portability also make the glasses an easy toy. I actually had (okay, still have) a ton of fun with them. I compared the spectra of lots of different lights and things around campus. Nearly anything metal will reflect enough light to be separated by the glasses. White things reflect a surprising amount of light as well. Also, I found out that the spectra from the fluorescent lights in the tutor room are different from the spectra of the fluorescent lights in the big lecture hall. I think that is because there are different bulbs being used. Or maybe I am just crazy. I suppose we will never know.
This picture really has nothing to do with the rest of the post, I just came across it while cleaning out my computer in preparation for the new school year and wanted to share it. It makes me laugh every time I see it. Based on a google search, I believe the artist to be Nick Kim. My hat is off to you, sir.
Fairly abrupt change of subject: I started research last week - I am so terribly excited! I have a fancy-dancy hardbound lab notebook - that only I write in - with my name on it and everything! And I have an awesome project to start with to get me used to the equipment and working in lab. I love working in a lab. Like, a lot. I got to hang out in the organic lab one day over the summer and had a ton of fun. I got to take melt temps, prepare ice baths, and all kinds of other fun things. And I am also going to be a TA for one of the gen chem labs this fall (hopefully with one of my favorite professors!), which I am really excited for. I love lab!!
Fairly abrupt change of subject: I started research last week - I am so terribly excited! I have a fancy-dancy hardbound lab notebook - that only I write in - with my name on it and everything! And I have an awesome project to start with to get me used to the equipment and working in lab. I love working in a lab. Like, a lot. I got to hang out in the organic lab one day over the summer and had a ton of fun. I got to take melt temps, prepare ice baths, and all kinds of other fun things. And I am also going to be a TA for one of the gen chem labs this fall (hopefully with one of my favorite professors!), which I am really excited for. I love lab!!