Hindes Project 2016

After seeing the Hindes 2015 project at the Exploratorium, i was determined to participate in 2016. I wasn't eligible to be an official contestant at the time, so i spoke to the organizers and was allowed to volunteer. I wasn't give a budget or paid time to work on a project unlike the other participants, but i knocked out a simple prototype in a little over a day.

Screw-thread to inclined plane comparison

The idea was to demonstrate the relationship between an inclined plane and a screwthread (a screw is simply a really long ramp wrapped around a cylinder). This prototype featured a thermochromic film that the user heated with their fingers, or a paintbrush soaked in warm water.

The user was allowed to change the angle of a ramp to see the effect this has on the created thread-pitch. The cylinder's rotation is generated by a rubber traction strip which ends before the rectangular viewing window at the end. The cylinder would rotate freely fuelled by its angular momentum after leaving the track. 

Improvements

This thermochromic marking system self-reset, which would be a good property in a final exhibit, but fingers aren't quite hot enough, and the wet paintbrush is clumsy. 

Additionally, the length of the exhibit would need to be significantly extended to convey the economy of space in a screw by comparing it to a very long slope.