OscylinderScope sculpture allows you to see sound waves

The OscylinderScope is an interactive sculpture by Norman Tuck that explores the nature of sound in a visual way. The OscylinderScope uses a moving black and white striped background to show the behavior of vibrating strings.

How the OscylinderScope works:

Spin the black and white cylinder and pluck the guitar strings. When you look at the strings, the wavy lines that you see show you how the strings behave when they vibrate to produce sound. Both the tension and the length of a string effect the frequency of vibration (pitch of the sound). Shorter or tighter strings vibrate faster to make higher tones. Longer or looser strings vibrate slower to make lower tones.

There are over a dozen OscylinderScopes around the world. The one shown here is located at San Francisco's Exploratorium.

Read more about the OscylinderScopes and where you can find one on Norman Tuck's web site. Also check out many other amazing kinetic sculptures by Norman Tuck.

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Engino mechanical science toy series: Linkages

Here is another toy in Engino's series of toys that teach mechanical principles. These are the folks that created the set on cams and cranks. The Engino toy system is a construction toy made up of of multi-faceted rods and connectors that can be connected on up to 6 sides at the same time. The design allows dense or open construction methods, simple or complex models, and the need for a smaller number of different components than other three dimensional building systems. Linkages seem like an idea application.

From the toy description:

Engino Mechanical Science: Linkages. This Engino set introduces young engineers and physicists the concept of linking levers to connect to moving parts for complex motion. Build 6 working models including a mechanical, extendable arm, a lifting platform, a pantograph, a folding ladder, a parallel weighing scale and a moving toy. A 40 page activity book is included with innovative experiments and detailed explanations of various technical and scientific principles and how they are applied.

Here is where you can get the linkages experiment set.

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Africani - automaton by Lorenzo Cambin

Take a look at this rich and colorful automaton by Lorenzo Cambin entitled africani. The three figures have such wonderfully elaborate dress. What a great video of the piece too! The back of the piece where you get a glimpse of the mechanism and its cams is fascinating, but brief.

See more automata by Lorenzo Cambin on his YouTube channel.

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