The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Science of the times

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Monday, Feb 25, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Science of the times

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: “You want explanation?” a girl student hesitantly asks. Once you agree to lend your ears to her account of the phenomenon of persistence of vision, she quickly rotates with a lever the circular object on which another small circle is drawn. She points out how the rotation makes one see concentric circles.

So explain, you say, and for a while, none is forthcoming. Her team mates gather around hazarding guesses such as optical illusion, till the girl manages to dig out from memory that the brain manages to retain a vision for about 1/16th of a second and if the object moves faster than that, it leads to optical illusion of concentric circles.

“If I place a written sheet in front of a mirror, the letters are inverted. But if I place it in between two mirrors, you can see it right,” says a sixth standard boy. Someone else seeks explanation and he confidently answers, “Reflection of reflections.”

At Vidvattva Science Expo 2008 organised by Bharath education.com on Saturday, schoolchildren were the centre of attraction as scores of people passed their stalls, asking them questions and listening intently to their explanations, while offering suggestions copiously.

Some waited patiently in the scorching sun for the inaugural function to begin. P.S. Nair, Deputy Director (Mechanical System Area), Indian Space Research Organisation, said that a country could influence the world, if it grew in the field of science. “People want to get into trade, information technology, so that their immediate concerns of money are addressed. But this will affect the growth of science,” he said.

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