Everything has a beginning. And modern opportunities for communication, exchange of information are rooted in the distant, distant past. Several special devices were invented and used for simple, but for that time quite intricate entertainment. They are forgotten by ordinary people, and today few people can answer the question of what phenacystiscope is.
Such an inert vision!
Man is an interesting creature! For example, vision - something we see clearly and distinctly, and some things are not subject to our vision without special devices. One of the peculiarities of a person’s vision is his inertness or, in scientific terms, persistence. It turns out that the human eye perceives the image as if in fragments, lingering for a short period of time, being fixed only partially on what is happening. This is clearly seen in the experiment, set back in 1765 by Chevalier Patrick d'Arcy, and in 1828 repeated and modified by Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau. On a rotating rim, one secured burning coals, and the second colored sectors. And in this and in the other case, scientists proved that a person perceives such a movement in a circle as something single, although in fact each fragment moved separately. Plateau also concluded that vision inertia with a persistence period of 0.34 seconds. Based on this discovery, 5 years later, in August 1833, he came up with a little entertainment - a specially designed device featuring a dancing ballerina. And many then became interested - what is phenacystiscope?
Almost cartoons
Few users of social networks know that their favorite GIFs - small graphic files in a raster format - originate long before the advent of the Internet and electronic machines in principle. The ancestor of the favorite file format of social network users, officially named Graphics Interchange Format, can be considered an invention to confirm inertia of the eyes and at the same time for entertainment - a phenacystiscop invented by the French graph, scientist and inventor d'Arcy. At one time, this toy was very in demand. Simple in design, it allowed you to see amazing things - scattered pictures turned into a moving image, which was very unusual for the middle of the XIX century.
This invention was replaced by several others, the action of which is based on the persistence of vision. One of the most global, giving the world a new impetus in the development of many areas of life, is cinema. And today, when technology allows you to get a three-dimensional image, fantastic clarity and brightness, and moving pictures sent in instant messengers and social networks have become familiar messages, you should remember that gave an impetus to all image-sharing technologies about an old device called fenakistiskop. How to make such entertainment for home gatherings? It turns out that it’s not at all difficult.
Entertainment Experience
Yes, it's easier than ever - turn on the TV or computer monitor, watch movies, photos, videos. But to do something unusual with your own hands is much more interesting. The answer to the question of what is phenacystiscope will help to make a surprisingly simple, but fun device for home entertainment.
The effect of the old device is based on such a feature of human vision as inertness, or persistence, if we speak in scientific language.
The principle on which this optical illusion is based is very simple. The inventor himself is a Belgian scientist of the 19th century, Joseph Plateau, spoke of this device in this way: if you draw the same object that changes shape and location on each individual figure, and then sequentially, at short intervals, show them to a person, he will see smoothly changing subject, but not separate images. Having appreciated the spectacular invention of the Plateau, industrialists in England, and then in Paris, set up the production of such devices for home entertainment. A set of pictures for the phenacystiscope could be bought separately, which allowed each time to watch a “different movie”. In the XIX century, few people, perhaps, were worried about the question of how to make a phenacystiscope with your own hands. But it is not difficult for a modern person with his abilities to repeat the old experience-entertainment and surprise his family and guests.
Principle of operation
In order to make a phenacystiscope with your own hands, you need to understand how it should work. So, in the device for domesticated gifs there are two main parts - a disk with pictures and a rotation mechanism. Through special slots, you should look at the rotating disk with pictures. Due to the inertia of vision when the device rotates with a certain frequency, the human eye perceives not individual images, but their sequential smooth change relative to each other. So there is an illusion of movement.
Materials for creativity
So what is phenacystiscop? This is a special device invented in the 19th century, which allows you to turn static pictures into a moving image. For its manufacture, the following materials will be required:
- thick cardboard;
- compass;
- protractor;
- ruler;
- scissors;
- paints and brushes or colored pencils (those who doubt their artistic abilities can use the pictures below;
- glue;
- a thin knitting needle (it can be replaced with a paper clip and a regular pencil with an elastic wash at the end);
- big mirror.
Assembly process
One of the unusual ways of home entertainment is to make a phenacystiscop with your own hands. Step-by-step instructions are extremely simple:
- draw a circle with a diameter of 25-30 centimeters on a piece of thick cardboard with a compass;
- cut it out;
- divide the circle into several equal sectors (it is most convenient to divide the circle into 8, 12, 18 parts of 45, 20 and 15 degrees, respectively);
- separate each sector from the neighboring ones with the help of slots 5 millimeters wide and 3 centimeters long;
- print, cut and paste the proposed pictures or draw something similar on your own;
- make a small hole in the center of the circle, sufficient for free rotation of the circle, but not allowing it to slip. You can use the pushpin, piercing it with a circle of pictures outward, and fastening it to a rubber tip-wash a simple pencil.
Now you need to stand in front of the mirror so that the pictures are displayed in it, spin up the disk and look through the slots at the resulting animation.
Now it becomes clear how the device invented in the 19th century works, and the answer to the question of what phenacystiscope is is quite simple and very interesting. Have fun!