Kaleidoscopes are tubes of mirrors containing loose coloured beads or pebbles, or other small coloured objects. A viewer looks in one end and light enters the other end, reflecting from mirrors, often two rectangular lengthways mirrors. Setting of mirrors at 45° creates eight duplicate images of the objects, six at 60°, and four at 90°. As the aforementioned the tube is rotated, the tumbling of the coloured objects presents the viewer with varying colours and patterns. Any arbitrary pattern of objects shows up as a beautiful symmetric pattern because of the reflections in the mirrors. A two-mirror model yields a pattern or patterns isolated against a solid black background, while a three-mirror model yields a pattern that fills the entire field.
For a 2D symmetry group a kaleidoscopic point is a point of intersection of two or many more lines of reflection symmetry. In the case of a discrete group the angle between consecutive lines is 180° / n for an integer n = 2. At this point there are n lines of reflection symmetry, and the point is a center of n - fold rotational symmetry.
They were invented by Scottish man called Brewster in 1816 while conducting
experiments on light polarization, it was patented in 1817. The initial
invention was made from a tube where Brewster placed pairs of mirrors
at one end, and pairs of translucent disks at the other. Between the
two, he placed the beads. Initially intended as a science tool, it was
quickly copied as a toy for entertainment.
Teleidoscope is a kind of kaleidoscope. The main difference between the two is teleidoscopes have a lens and open view.
A teleidoscope uses a clear sphere or lens instead of beads, and the
observed image is broken into repeated segments. This results in kaleidoscopic
patterns deriving from real objects, rather than predetermined visuals.
Trivia
Foreign names device
Kalejdoskop = Denmark
Kaleidoskooppi = Suomi (Finish)
Caleidoscopio = Spanish
Kaléidoscope = France
Kalejdoskop = Sweden
Kaleidoskop = Germany
Anagrams for kaleidoscope
'Ace idle spook = Kaleidoscope
'Ciao! Dovelike spew. = Kaleidoscope view
Other uses of term Kalideoscope include
Kaleidoscope, an album by R&B artist Kelis
Kaleidoscope an underground newspaper of the 1960s-1970s in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin
Kaleidoscope, the third album by Siouxsie & the Banshees
Kaleidoscope British light entertainment show transmitted on BBC from
1946 until 1953
Kaleidoscope American psychedelic folk band of the 60s
Kaleidoscope British psychedelic band of the 60s
Kaleidoscope computer programming language
Kaleidoscope Century, a science fiction novel by John Barnes, published
in 1995
Kaleidoscope World, an album of the Swing Out Sister
Kaleidoscope Entertainment, an Indian film and television production
company
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