How To Use Science To Turn Your Kid’s Room Into A Glow Wall
A shot in the dark.
After leaving a career as a mechanical engineer at NASA, Mark Rober has spent a lot of time mixing science with snowballs, Nerf guns, and Orbeez. But this week he took a trip down memory lane and relived the first time science amazed him by building a glow wall — something you can find in most children’s museums, and now perhaps in your home thanks to cool uncle Mark.
All you need to build your own glow wall is a standard camera flash (the more watts, the better), or a UV flashlight or laser for a drawing effect. (Note: red lasers and standard flashlights wont work.) Then you just need a wall coated in glow-in-the-dark paint or wallpaper and viola! You’re the Trump of ultraviolet light.
If you plan on recreating it, listen closely to Rober’s scientific explanation behind why things glow so you can explain to junior why taking over their walls is a teachable moment. He also tested if the technology would hold up with the tablet-crazed kids these days by inviting his nieces and nephews over, and it more than delivered. But judging from the video the dads had the best time of all — as if you needed more motivation to make one. Finally, your wife won’t be the only one who gets to feel like they’re glowing. This is a family affair now.
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