IR Camera

The new IR camera purchased at Yerkes will allow us to do demonstrations at Yerkes and in the Classroom.

Goal:

To develop student activities that will use this new camera. It would be nice to develop demonstrations for the teacher as well as guided activities that the students can do.

In The Works:

Developing activities for use of the new IR camera (Rich, Kathy, Margie, Marc)
Documentation of the existing demonstrations (Marc)

Seek Thermal camera

Ensure that the phone is sufficiently charged (> 80%) (battery drains very quickly)

How to set up iPhone for Seek Thermal usage:

Download Seek Thermal app from the App Store.
Plug in camera.
- It will prompt you for something, feel free to ignore that.
Open Seek Thermal app.
- It will automatically go to the IR cam if it's plugged in correctly.

TIPS:

You can twist the outer ring (around the lens) GENTLY to focus the image

How to cast to Mac/PC screen:

ENSURE BOTH DEVICES CONNECTED TO THE SAME WIFI NETWORK (same router).
Set up LonelyScreen to set your computer up as an Apple TV.
Once you open the LonelyScreen, you automatically run the server required to screen cast.
Follow the instructions here (How to AirPlay content from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch) to connect your iPhone to the screen.

Raz-IR Camera

The camera is an Raz-IR Nano. The camera is at Yerkes Observatory, probably in Vivian's office. Additional material for the demonstrations is in the Library and in Becca's office. The best setup is to connect the camera to a projector, such that people in front of the camera can see themselves. The manual to the camera is attached at the bottom of this page.

An alternative would be to buy a camera that can connect to a cellphone such as the Seek Thermal.

Lesson Ideas:

StudyQuestions for students:
- What do you know / have you heard about IR?
- How would the room look different if you had IR eyes?
- How would you look different if your friends had IR eyes?
- How might the sky look different if you had IR eyes?

Demonstrations

IR light goes through dark plastic bags but does not go through transparent plexiglas.
Switch off (on) lights -> IR image is unchanged
Paint by heating up / cooling down the wall, a piece of paper. Leave heat imprints from the hand (or feet).
Look at a two glasses with warm and cold water.
- You can also heat / cool the interior of your mouth by drinking hot / cold water.
Look at infrared reflection on unpolished objects.
Sprinkle hot/cold water on fabric and observe cooling as the water evaporates.
Observe how objects warm up in sunlight
Use the windows as a mirror
Drop a metal ball on a piece of wood → watch it heat up at the impact site
Quickly pull a rubber band and it heats up.
Rub hammer on piece of wood - hit piece of wood.
Pour hot water from one cup to another.

Activities

Paint your face with Ice while looking into the camera.
Look for warm / cold objects in the room.

Ideas / Questions:

What other websites are there that demonstrate classroom activities for such cameras?
The Thermal Imaging Blog has ideas about IR observations.

Log:

Purchase of Raz-IR Nano - Vivian - July 2011
Search for IR camera models and appropriate vendors. - Brittany, Lily - Spring 2011

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