Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Thaumatrope
A thaumatrope is a toy that was popular in Victorian times. A disk with a picture on each side is attached to two pieces of string. When the disk is spun quickly the two pictures appear to combine into a single image due to the optical property known as persistence of vision.
Examples of common thaumatrope pictures include a bare tree on one side of the disk, and its leaves on the other, or a bird on one side and a cage on the other. They often also included riddles or short poems, with one line on each side.
Thaumatropes were one of a number of simple, mechanical optical toys that took advantage of persistence of vision, but whose popularity faded with the development of motion pictures.
See also: Zoetrope, Optical illusion
10-26-2009 08:16:03
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The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details