Over the past month, I was set loose to research and learn about invisibility.
Every year in PLP the teachers hold big exhibitions that show each student’s knowledge about a certain topic. They are called “Blue Sky”. To start off each student must choose an inquiry question about a given topic. We must research our chosen question in depth, and then present our knowledge at the exhibition night where family and friends come to see their project.
This season our inquiry questions had to be related to Harry Potter. The question I came up with was:
Could Harry Potter’s cloak of invisibility ever be created in real life?
Once my question was approved, I started to research about light and how it travels.
After a lot of reading, I found out that refraction and reflection are the keys to invisibility. If scientists are able to manipulate the way light reacts once it hits an object, they are able to make that object invisible. This can be done by making a cloak that has the same refractive index as the object you’re trying to make invisible. Scientists have already figured out how: they coated a base layer with thousands of tiny little particles that act like antennas. When you put the cloak over the object, the light bounces off all those tiny particles and reflects back up to your eyes so perfectly that the human eye cannot detect the object at all. Scientists have already created an invisibility cloak but on a tiny scale. They call it a metamaterial.
This might all seem confusing, but if you think about it starts to make sense. I also made a mini-experiment to help people understand what I was talking about.
This experiment consists of a glass beaker, water, and orbeez (gel balls).
The pictures above show a glass beaker seemingly filled with just water. But in reality, there are many of these “orbeez” inside. How is this? It all relates back to the refractive index of the object. Orbeez happen to have the same refractive index as water, so when you put them in a water-filled glass they look invisible.
My second experiment demonstrates the same principle in a different way.
In this experiment I make a glass test tube look invisible. The trick to this one is baby oil. Similar to my other experiment baby oil happens to have the same refractive index as glass.
After I finished my research about the different types of materials used to make potential invisibility cloaks I started to make a video that would explain how invisibility can be possible in real life. First I wrote the script. I started by gathering all my information and then moved onto making a layout. Once the script was ready, I recorded myself talking and then edited visuals in after I was done. I was surprised how long the recording and editing part of the project took; next time I make a video I’m definitely going to leave more time to perfect it.
After I finished all the information pages and the video I started to make my board. I build my board in four main sections.
- Title and answer – this was my main question and also the conclusion I reached, and this part included my video
2. Light and metamaterials – in this section I described the wave/particle duality of light, the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, and how metamaterials are made. I made a model of a metamaterial using gold-painted wood bricks and iridescent paper.
3. Experiments – this is where I set up my two invisibility experiments. I wrote descriptions of each experiment as well.
4. Double slit experiment and light waves – I thought I should describe the properties of light in more detail because it is scientists’ understanding of the quantum physics of light that will lead to the invention of useable invisibility cloaks.
After most of the class had finished their projects our teacher split us up into 4 groups depending on the material your project dealt with. I was put in the magic group
My group and I decided to decorate our part of the exhibition to look like the Gryffindor common room.
First, we cut out big red strips of paper to look like the vibrant red walls in the movie. Then we brought all of our projects in and set them up. Robbie was set up near the left side where he had his project about the different types of wands. Ethan and Reid were set up near the middle, and Alex and I were stationed more to the left of the exhibit. Apart from the decorating aspect of our project night, we also had to have an interactive game and food and drink for the visitors. We served Licorish wands, Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans and dragons milk. Or in layman’s terms, licorice, jellybeans, and eggnog. It was fun coming up with the food ideas. Our interactive game was Pin the scar on Harry Potter. For this, players had to, well, pin the scar on Harry Potter. First, we had the players put a blindfold on, and then we put a spell on them to make sure they didn’t remember where Harry Potter’s head was. Then they had to pin a lightning bolt shaped scar on harry. The winner was the person who pinned the scar closest to the real one on his head.
Some people also decided to dress up… I chose to be a “living painting”
Over the course of this project, I have learned about the properties and laws of light, metamaterials, how the human eye sees shapes and color and even a bit of quantum physics. I researched the history of light physics and pondered just what exactly invisibility is. The toughest part of my project was making sure I fully understood the physics (especially the quantum physics part!). It was complicated, and I ended up reading a lot of both books and websites before I could write anything. Then I ended up having too much detail on the strange properties of light, so I had to edit it several times.
The part I enjoyed most was the actual presentation night. I was pleased with my project, and I had fun decorating the Gryffindor common room with my friends and setting up the display.
The fact that blew my mind the most was the double slit experiment that demonstrates the truly weird quantum physics of light.
At the end of my research, I concluded that not only is Harry Potter’s Cloak of Invisibility possible in real life, but physicists are already figuring out how to make one. That is pretty exciting, and I look forward to one day actually seeing a real invisibility cloak.
Thanks for reading!
-Michael
Want to learn more? I got most of my information from this book and these websites.
Book: Kaku, Michio.
Kaku, Michio. Physics of the Impossible. New York: Doubleday/Random House, 2008.
Websites:
http://www.livescience.com/52216-ultrathin-invisibility-cloak.html
http://www.iop.org/resources/topic/archive/metamaterials/
http://science.howstuffworks.com/invisibility-cloak2.htm
http://www.hyperstealth.com/Quantum-Stealth/
http://newatlas.com/dukeuniversitymetamaterialsmanipulatelight/19444/#gallery
https://steemit.com/life/@overlord/are-we-living-in-the-matrix
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