Gravity-defying water
Can you throw an open pot of water into the air, so that it turns upside-down at least once, and catch it, without spilling any water? Yes, you can! This demonstration won 1st Prize in the Best Demo competition at the British Interactive Group Event in 2005.
Read more about gravity-defying water.
Balancing beam
The white beams in the pictures are joined only by a floppy ribbon. So why do they dangle UP rather than down when I push them off the table? This demonstration won 2nd Prize in the Best Demo competition at the British Interactive Group Event in 2006.
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Gilchrist's demonstration
When white is really black! I saw this wonderful demonstration at a vision conference in 1993 when I was an academic. It doesn't seem to have made it into the science show repertoire. This is a pity, so I have made my own version to take it to a wider audience. This demonstration won 1st Prize in the Best Demo competition at the British Interactive Group Event in 2007.
Read more about Gilchrist's demonstration.
Prism spectacles
These spectacles displace everything you see a few degrees to one side. If you try to throw or catch a ball, you keep missing. But soon, your brain adapts and you can aim accurately again. But when you take the spectacles off, it all goes horribly wrong again until your brain readapts.
I made these spectacles using stick-on Fresnel prisms to avoid the great weight and optical disadvantages of traditional prisms.
Read more about the prism specs.
Force-transducing starting blocks
Robin Hoyle of Glasgow Science Centre wanted to do something about "speed off the blocks" in a show about the science of sport. He asked me to make some starting blocks that could record reaction time. These blocks measure the force applied by the user's feet as they push off, and instantly display a graph on a PC-oscilloscope to show how quickly the force starts to rise after the starting gun goes.
Read more about the starting_blocks.