Just Dots Or A Picture- A Science Fair Project For Kids

By Author: Jason john
Total Articles: 85
Comment this article

Do you know how the photos are printed in newspapers? Actually they are made up of dots. You will be able to see only some patterns, if you enlarge these dots and look at them. But you can see the image forming if you move back. By doing this experiment, you will see how to make a picture out of dots.

What you need?

1.Graph paper with ¼ inch (6 mm) squares.
2.A black and white photo. (I you are not using the picture given in the book.)
3.A pencil
4.Paper clips

What to do?

We have provided you with a pattern of dots for your convenience. You can just copy it and use it as such. But then it is only a picture of an eye. You can follow the steps below if you want to create an entire face.

1.On the top of the photo place a graph paper. The picture should be clipped to the graph paper. This will make it to stay in the same place while you are drawing.
2.Through the graph paper, you can see the dark portions of the photo. Pick a square to start your drawing from. What portion of the square is black should be estimated. Draw a dot whose size corresponds to the percentage ...
... of black. This means that the more black in the square, the bigger your dot (see the diagram below). If the square is of some shade of gray then the size of the dot will depend on how dark the gray. You should put a small dot if the square is filled with pale gray. Put a bigger dot if the square is filled with dark gray.
3.Repeat the process with each square in the picture until you are finished.

Now hold the dot picture at arm's length. The dot picture will be easily recognizable at this distance if it is of a familiar object/person. But it is difficult to recognize unfamiliar or complicated objects at close range. In such cases place the picture across the room. Then you can notice it becomes much easier to recognize. You will notice the dots in the picture disappearing and only some patterns remaining.

What happens?

Since the brain is always attempting to interrupt what it sees, the pictures made of dots are easily recognized by it. The picture of the eye given in the figure is made up of different sized dots. The brain recognizes the overall shape as that of an eye. This is because of that the brain is very familiar with that shape. This is the same reason a person may see shapes in clouds or inkblots. The brain does not merely register these shapes as abstract patterns. Instead, it attempts to interpret them based on previous experience.

Because of the limited resolving power of your eyes, the dots disappear when you view the picture from a distance. The light reflecting from the page makes an image on the retina of your eye. That is why you see the dot picture. Your brain interprets the result when the image stimulates the light sensitive cells in the retina. The image, picture makes on your retina become smaller, when you move the dot picture farther away from your eye. The images of the dots overlap on the light sensitive cells. Your eye is unable to distinguish between adjacent dots. It perceives shades of gray, rather than black dots and white spaces.