DIY Spirograph - Exploratorium
2,801 views · Published 8 August 2007 · 0:36 · Indexed 7 October 2026
Channel: Exploratorium · 2007 · Howto & Style
1) Find a turntable. 2) Put a Glow-in-the-Dark Screen (phosphorescent screen) on the rotating platform. 3) Use an egg-beater (hand mixer) with a small LED light to draw on the screen. 4) Turn the lights off. 5) Turn the record player on to get the Glow-in-the-Dark screen to rotate. 6) Rotate the eggbeater and watch the patterns the LED light draws on the Glow-in-the-Dark screen. 7) Try turning the egg-beater counter-clockwise, does the pattern change? What's going on Phosphorescent material stores light energy for a short period of time. So when you shine the LED light on the phosphorescent screen, it will glow for a while. The patterns are called cycloids. The flashlight draws a small circle, while the record player also rotates. The combination of those two movements results in a spirograph effect.
