Strobe Lights

Strobe lights have been popular for decades as dance accessories and theatrical lighting elements, and with good reason. Temporal aliasing such as the sort affording by these brilliant bursts of light can illuminate motion in discrete steps, creating an effect not unlike a flip book. If you have ever played with one in your home, you know the possibilities for science and recreation are nearly limitless.Xenon bulbs such as the ones used in strobes create blinding flashes whose short duration makes them bearable. Many strobes nowadays can be adjusted to any interval, creating effects as startling as one fps or as seamless as 100. Adding gels and reflectors to strobes can make them more fun still, flashing off surfaces whose different sides you might otherwise never see in the same instant.Scientists have used strobes for years as well to study the motion of running animals, spinning houseflies and other common natural phenomena. Largely replaced by high-speed photography, strobes are still favored for their ability to create discrete, graduated images on a single frame of film. Today a number of scientific demonstrations involving the forming of droplets and other fluid dynamics make bold use of stroboscopic effects.If you are looking for your own strobe light, it may be useful to research such details as wattage and interval before you buy. You may also want to be very careful with the light at first, as certain types of epilepsy have been known to trigger from flashing lights such as these.