Fall 2010 Earth Science Observations in Science--Illusions

Fall 2010Earth Science

Observations in Science--Illusions

• Our brains tend to love to play tricks on us when the occasion calls for it. So with the right colors, shapes, and patterns sometimes we’re tricked into seeing things that we really don’t see.

Mars

Elephant Legs

Are the horizontal lines parallel or do they slope?

Impossible Nuts

Ouchi Illusion

Pyramids

What do you see?

• Man’s Face and a word that starts with the letter “L”

Keep your eye on that center and watch the disappearing act

How about hypnosis

Move your eyes around, even though these appear to move, they are static.

What do you see?

• How many tigers do you see?

Are you scared?

What do you see?

• Yes, they are alive

• How many colors do you see?

• 3

Two Tables—See Overhead

Explanations for IllusionsTHE SPEED OF LIGHT IS NOT INSTANTANEOUS:Ole Roemer (Danish astronomer, 1676) applied thedelays observed in the orbiting time for the moonsaround Jupiter, and how this changed as Jupiter'sdistance changed.

Explanations for IllusionsSUN DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND US: Proposedby Copernicus (~1540), supported by Galileo andrefined by Kepler (early 1600s), then confirmed withstellar parallax by Bessel (1838).

Explanations for IllusionsRAINBOWS ARE NOT MATERIAL OBJECTS:Theodoric Freiburg (early 1300s), first to use thescientific method. Refined by Isaac Newton (1660s).http://www.atmosphere.mpg.de/enid/tj.html

Explanations for IllusionsSPECIES DO CHANGE: Charles Darwin's work withnatural selection (published 1859).

CONTINENTS ARE NOT FIXED: Proposed byWegener (1915); Hess & Dietz (1960s) discovered seafloor spreading

• The Blind Spot Illusion

The Science of the Blind Spot

One Last One—Where’s Waldo

• http://www.superlaugh.com/1/waldo.swf