people like to see a technique that fools their senses. This truism was in play at the accident area booth this weekend as [Steve Goldstein] as well as [Kevin Jordan] showed off a drip fountain managed by a bike pump.

These optical illusion drip fountains utilize strobing light to seemingly freeze dripping water in mid-air. We’ve seen this before a number of times (the work of Hackaday alum [Mathieu Stephan] concerns mind) however never with a individual input rather as delightful as a bike pump. It’s linked to an air pressure sensor that is monitored by the Arduino that strobes the lights. As somebody works the pump, the falling droplets appear to slow, stop, as well as then begin streaming against gravity.

Sadly this phenomenon is rather challenging to record in a video because the latency of our vision is integral for the technique to work. The frame rate of the video above doesn’t rather fit together with the strobing however look carefully as well as you still see the illusion at times.

In person, the impact is so ideal that it drew a crowd all the time throughout the weekend. youngsters were invited to run their fingers with the dripping stream to verify that the water was certainly real. even if you stick your hand into the illusion it doesn’t break the effect.

The in shape as well as surface of the fountain is commendable. Dark acrylic makes up a triangular situation in the shape of the hackerspace’s logo. Water droplets are created by an oscillating pump as well as autumn from the apex of the triangle. A martini glass at the bottom catches the drops with some steel wool to avoid splashes. The system to recirculate the water is totally hidden from view. It’s a piece of art as well as truly tops off the general experience. It was a maker Faire Bay area hit as well as rightly so!

As of yet, there are no details published for the build, however [Steve] as well as [Kevin] sounded like they plan to file their work so keep an eye on the accident area page.  [Kevin] composed in to let us understand they published details on the Levitating Fountain.