moiré rings

Instructions

~ LINES ON LINES MAKE WEIRD PATTERNS! ~ Whoa, what's this wavy shimmery thing? Look closely and you'll notice a series of rings. When we take a copy of these rings and shift them slightly, we start to see a wavy pattern emerge. And if we add some horizontal lines on top of the rings, the waves seem to get even more wavy. What are they? These waves are called #moire patterns, and they're everywhere in the fields of arts and math and physics! Moire patterns are named after the French moiré textile, which is a silky fabric with a watery appearance. If you've ever seen shimmery dresses and ribbons, then you've probably seen the moire effect in action. You've probably also noticed this effect when looking at screens and But how do they work? The moiré effect occurs when repeating pieces of information overlap each other to create an interference pattern. This pattern can be produced out of anything from dots to grids to lines to hexagons. In this instance, the effect was created using imperfectly overlapping rings. The sections where the rings overlap contrast with the open sections, creating an impression of high and low points just like the crests and troughs of a wave! Along this reasoning, interference patterns are often referred to as wave interference. Moiré patterns can be found everywhere in arts, photography, and printmaking -- and are useful for engineering applications like guiding ships and detecting forged banknotes. Materials physicists have even created a magical superconductor material out of nanoscopic graphene sheets using the moiré effect! When the rings hit your eye like a big shiny sky ~ That's a moiré! :D HOW TO USE THIS PROJECT: - use sliders to adjust pattern parameters - toggle lines by pressing SPACE or by clicking stage - tinker with new numbers to investigate how they work! #math #mathart #moire