Kaleidoscope

A kaleidoscope (from the Greek kalós, beautiful, éidos, image and scopéo, to observe) is a tube that contains three mirrors, which form a triangular prism with its reflective part facing inward, at the end of which there are two translucent sheets among which there are several objects of different colors and shapes, whose images are multiplied symmetrically as the tube rotates while looking through the opposite end. These mirrors can be arranged at different angles. At 40° from each one, eight duplicate images are generated. At 60° six duplicates are observed and at 90° four. The kaleidoscope is also well known for the teleidoscope, but there is no relationship between the two. Although it is most commonly made up of one contact lens, a kaleidoscope can also be built with two, or more than three, to achieve different types of effects.

The modern kaleidoscope was invented in 1816 by the Scottish physicist David Brewster, who patented it in 1817 but never received remuneration. The pace of sales was enormous, but the ease of manufacturing encouraged imitations and replicas, and in Before long, other businessmen began to receive profits by selling hundreds of thousands of copies.

It is one of the best-known toys in the world and one of the most appreciated for its optical effect. In the words of Peter Mark Roget, "In the memory of man, no invention and no work, whether directed to the imagination or the understanding, will ever produce an effect as such".

Another type of kaleidoscope is the teleidoscope. This has a magnifying lens or a translucent sphere at its end (instead of the two sheets), and generates images by multiplying objects outside it, seen through said lens, in its mirrors.

Types of kaleidoscope

Tomoscope: It is a variant of the kaleidoscope that consists of applying a large-aperture translucent lens at its end. This lens allows us to use any shape, color and volume; collecting everything around us turning it into kaleidoscopic images. The Tomoscope has the advantage that a specific light intensity is not needed, but in low light it already does its job. Another advantage is that we can play with opaque objects, something that a classic kaleidoscope does not allow us to do.

Magicscope: It is one of the most recent kaleidoscopes and its operation is based on a tube of transparent material filled with liquid, with glass fragments and glitter, placed in the front part of the kaleidoscope. When passed in a vertical position with the content on the top, it falls with its own weight to the bottom and when passing through the front of the prism it gives rise to the formation of kaleidoscopic images.

Grafiscope: It is very similar to the classic kaleidoscope, but with the difference that where the pieces of glass, paper or other material would be placed, a slot is cut where a translucent or transparent strip is inserted that by making it slide from one place to another, what is printed, drawn or pasted; It is converted into a kaleidoscopic image.

Polarized Kaleidoscope: It is made based on a polarizer that allows light to be broken down, thus creating infinite multicolor combinations. By focusing this kaleidoscope towards any beam of light, it crosses the polarizer and is decomposed into its entire spectrum and this, in turn, will project the color through the prism or mirror forming the kaleidoscopic figures.