I want to introduce the new Free Magic Fun Apps. On the top menu, there is a button for “Free Magic Apps.” The single app includes three tricks. Each trick has instructions and a quiz. All three tricks are optical illusions.
When the app opens, you will see three tabs at the top of the screen. It lists the three tricks: 1. Color Changing Blocks, 2. The Vanishing Spots, and 3. A Fishy Story. Below the trick title there are three or four tabs. The first tab is the trick. Then the blocks and the spots have a tab “Inspector/Measure” to get more in depth on playing with the science behind the illusion. On the fish trick, the inspector portion is built into the main trick tab. Then each of the three have “How It Works” to explain well… how it works. And finally, each trick has a short quiz to see if you understand it.
These are tricks I have on paper, that I print out for lessons. The fish get printed and laminated because there is much more moving them around. I thought it would be fun to make online apps for these optical illusions.
Color Changing Blocks
The color changing blocks is a neat example of how much you cannot trust your eyes or your brain. When you see the dark and light parts of the seam, your brain assumes the rest of the block is the same, or similarly colored. So, the two blocks look like different colors. When you cover the seam, your brain now sees just the blocks as they are… and you see them as the same color (which they are).
On a piece of paper, this is a very convincing optical illusion. On an app, people will probably assume the color is actually being changed by the app. This is why I am not a fan of pretty much any phone app magic. I have done enough programming to know that you can make a computer/phone/app do anything you want it to. That is why I added the “How It Works.”
When teaching a class, I teach how it works, but on a piece of paper, you know it is not being manipulated any other way. The lesson gives a quick description of the science behind it, then the Quiz tab has a short quiz to test your understanding. The score is displayed, but not saved, and you win nothing.
Vanishing Dots
The vanishing dots are just painfully fun. If you look at the page and not focus on anything in particular, you will see black dots appearing on the yellow dots. But try to concentrate on a dot, and it is steady yellow.
This has the same tabs for the trick, explanation, and quiz. This one makes no sense to me… it is just optical illusion magic to me ha ha.
You can adjust the line opacity and thickness, as well as change the size of the yellow dots. Play with it and see what makes the dots more or less visible. I wonder if everyone sees them the same way. I would assume not. For me, the more opaque the line is, the more I see the flashing black dots. When I print this trick on a regular printer, it does not work very well because the lines are too solid. I was never sure why it did not work, until I played with this app.
One the cool things about this app is you can change the color scheme. The original black and white, which I never saw before, is the best version.
A Fishy Story
I have seen this trick for years, usually as a long cat or a rainbow. It just never really impressed me. Probably because it never made any sense. Why do we care about a cat or a rainbow?
The fish make a great story. You can talk about an old relative that taught you to fish and how much you would argue over whose fish is the largest. A common fishing problem. The fish, and the ruler are all exactly the same size, but the top curve is longer than the bottom curve. This way, when you put on above another, the bottom one appears to be larger. The short curve of the top fish sits on the long curve of the bottom fish, and you brain assumes the bottom one is larger. If you look carefully, you will see they are the same. With any measurements, you will see they are the same.
As I said, I print these out on card stock and laminate them as giveaways to students. The app is neat, but when you actually handle them, and see them change sizes, it is pretty cool. The fish are a fun story and a fun trick to do.
There is a How It Works and Quiz tab, but there is no tab for Inspector/Measure because most the extra bits and bobs can be used to present the trick differently. You can zoom in and out, to fit your screen better. There are buttons to add extra fish and rulers. And different alignment options.
Some of the things, like highlighted the edges really are more for investigating than performing it, but most of the extras can be fun to perform it with.
Align the left (or right) edge to make them look much different is size. The angled ends really add to the illusion of length. I love the addition of the ruler. You can “measure” them to make the story more fun.
If there is any interest in the printed versions of these, I can add a pdf that I use for classes. It has four or 5 different tricks that can be printed at home and laminated, if you choose.
I made these apps in one afternoon. I tested them and they seem to work well. They do look better on a PC than a phone, but everything kind of looks better on a 27 inch screen than a 6 inch screen… I did not see any glaring typos, but there may be some. Let me know if there are any issues with them and I will try and fix them.
