Comments on: Stopping Time (Visually)

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 19:32:53 +0000

I’m also curious if anyone has tried this outside and concluded it’s possible or not due to ambient light. it seems with bright strobe flashes your eye would focus on the illuminated drop moments and mentally blur out the in-between dimmer, naturally illuminated, intervals. but perhaps it would look crap without at the very least a dark background…

By: George

George — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 02:25:30 +0000

Hello
I am looking for help to build a unit 48 inches wide by 7 feet tall.
Can anybody spare a little time to help out?
Thankyou very much
George

By: Alain Bellon

Alain Bellon — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 16:23:45 +0000

Use transistors to get a larger current for the LEDs.

Example: http://www.sbprojects.com/knowledge/ir/irdriver.gif

By: Brendan

Brendan — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 04:08:56 +0000

I was curious, do you have suggestions on beefing up this circuit as far as a higher input voltage to run more LED’s? My circuit keeps over heating and burning out the 555 IC timer…
Thanks so much, this project was so much fun!

By: Gerry Moore

Gerry Moore — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 07:43:23 +0000

Thanks for the quick reply Alain….I was thinking of using the little LED torches…I think they have around 6-10 leds with a reflector….I realise it won’t work during daylight but would look good in the garden evening time…I was more concerned with the question of getting much bigger ‘drops’ ??? What size do you think would be possible…there must be a limit to the maximum size of a possible water drop due to surface tension?? I even wondered abount dropping golf balls or similar!!

By: Alain Bellon

Alain Bellon — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:52:33 +0000

Vladislav,

The pulse and the delay are controlled through the POT. By adjusting the timing you get different effects, like time suspension and time going backwards. But it all depends on the rate of your water drops.

Gerry,

This phenomenon works because of the specific drops that the light lets you see in sequence. So if the ambient light is strong enough you will not see the effect because you will be able to see other drops at the same time.

It would be feasable to do one in large scale, but in that case look to use Stobe lights (the ones they use for dancing places), which can be regulated, instead of using LEDs.

By: Gerry Moore

Gerry Moore — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 08:11:42 +0000

No one has posted for a long while so I hope someone is still out there! I plan to build a fountain but have a couple of questions …..does it only work in dimmed light, ie nightime?? Anyone think it would be possible/feasable to build a big one for use out in the garden?? I live in Spain and I’m looking for a project for the garden…this would be ideal!! My alternative is a ‘fake’ perpetual motion machine!!

By: Vladislav

Vladislav — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 10:21:13 +0000

What duration of an impulse (flash) should be (in micro seconds)? I think, that approximately 50 micro seconds. And what time between flashes?

By: Jared

Jared — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 03:19:29 +0000

I just presented my time fountain in AP physics, but I couldn’t get the lights to strobe fast enough or the on period low enough, the result, broken fountain. I will make it work, I’ve got >14 hours in it.

By: zorif

zorif — Wed, 30 May 2007 02:20:27 +0000

the 555 circuit is good.i built it on bread board it seems to be working when i turn the pot(flickering can be seen clearly).but the the issue is with brightness of LEDs.even i use 12v input iam not getting much brightness.so any ideas to get some more brightness?
and to add more LEDs author said transistor is required.so the base of transistor goes to pin3,emitter to ground and LED’s will fit between supply and collector.am i right?