3 ms·

And it's kindof accessible for hobbyists, here is the website of one individual who made his own setup: http://www.ian.org/Schlieren/ http://www.ian.org/Schlier

And it's kindof accessible for hobbyists, here is the website of one individual who made his own setup: http://www.ian.org/Schlieren/ http://www.ian.org/Schlieren/ The most expensive component (except the camera) is the mirror. According to that website, it costs about $100 from an optics company.

daniel_reetz 12y ago
You can also do it without any mirror, using Background Oriented Schlieren. Basically, you print a bunch of random dots on paper, and use a camera to see the subpixel shifts in the dots. ( see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_schlieren http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_schlieren ). By cross-correlation, you get the change in refractive index/density of air. One of the main limitations on a Schlieren system is that you can only image objects that are smaller than your mirror. That makes the BOS systems are pretty neat, because at least in theory, you can just print out large backgrounds to image large areas.
- deutronium 12y ago
  This paper is really nice http://www.ualberta.ca/~bsuther/papers/procsorrento0998/reprint_style.pdf http://www.ualberta.ca/~bsuther/papers/procsorrento0998/repr... on the synthetic method.
mhb 12y ago
Or you can grind your own mirror, which is a fun project. The Foucault tester, used to see the Schlieren image is also used for that project. It is easy to see the bump created on the mirror due to its expansion after briefly touching it with your finger.
ghaff 12y ago
You can also do something related with materials that are not as common as they used to be but still available. If you take a piece of photo paper and put it in the background ( in the dark or course) and then shoot a strobe through the "disturbance" you'll get a shadow picture of e.g. A bullet and its shockwave (assuming the strobe is triggered at the right time). We did this sort of thing in Doc Edgerton's lab. For many years there was a Schliieren photo that Kim Vandiver made downstairs from the lab.
deleted 12y ago
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daniel_reetz 12y ago

You can also do it without any mirror, using Background Oriented Schlieren. Basically, you print a bunch of random dots on paper, and use a camera to see the subpixel shifts in the dots. ( see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_schlieren http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_schlieren ). By cross-correlation, you get the change in refractive index/density of air. One of the main limitations on a Schlieren system is that you can only image objects that are smaller than your mirror. That makes the BOS systems are pretty neat, because at least in theory, you can just print out large backgrounds to image large areas.

deutronium 12y ago
This paper is really nice http://www.ualberta.ca/~bsuther/papers/procsorrento0998/reprint_style.pdf http://www.ualberta.ca/~bsuther/papers/procsorrento0998/repr... on the synthetic method.

mhb 12y ago

Or you can grind your own mirror, which is a fun project. The Foucault tester, used to see the Schlieren image is also used for that project. It is easy to see the bump created on the mirror due to its expansion after briefly touching it with your finger.

ghaff 12y ago

You can also do something related with materials that are not as common as they used to be but still available. If you take a piece of photo paper and put it in the background ( in the dark or course) and then shoot a strobe through the "disturbance" you'll get a shadow picture of e.g. A bullet and its shockwave (assuming the strobe is triggered at the right time). We did this sort of thing in Doc Edgerton's lab. For many years there was a Schliieren photo that Kim Vandiver made downstairs from the lab.

deleted 12y ago

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