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Trick your eye!
Sometimes our eyes tell us
something is a certain way
but it is not that way at all.
Below are some pictures that
will trick your eyes. Look at them
for a while and see if you know
the answer.
(You can find the answers at the bottom
of this page, unless it says there is no answer)
#1
Look at the picture below. There are two horizontal lines. (Like this =) Are those two lines straight or bent a little in the middle?
Do you trust your eyes?
Info about the pictures on this page:
These pictures are called "optical illusions."
The word "optical" refers to what you see. The word "illusion" means something that seems to be one way but it's totally different. (Like the picture above.) When a magician does illusions, we call them magic tricks, he/she is trying to fool our eyes also. He/she is doing something that tells our eyes it is real but in fact it is an illusion, tricking our eyes.
This is a crazy one. Look at the picture below. Look at square "A" and square "B". Believe it or not, the squares are the same color.
You can't always believe your eyes. (answer below)
#2
Look at the picture below of snakes. As your eye moves around, it will look like the snakes move. The one you are staring at is not moving but snakes around it are. (No answer below)
#3
There are 3 pictures below. In picture "A" the black surfaces look like they are on the top of the 3 squares. In picture "B" the black surfaces look like they are on the bottom of the 3 squares. Now look a picture "C". If you try real hard, you can see the black surfaces switch from top to bottom, changing as you look closely.
This is a hard one to see.
(No answer below) (hint: if you print this page out and turn the paper upside down, you can see it easily. This might help.)
#4
A
B
C
Here is a famous drawing by an artist named M.C. Escher. Some people call this the "impossible staircase." In life it would be impossible for a stairway to keep going up and if you turned around, it would keep going down. This is another optical illusion. (No answer below)
#5
Thanks VisualFunHouse.com
Here is a photo of M.C. Escher. He was an amazing artist and mathmatician. He did many drawing that were optical illusions. You should look them up online, if your parents say it is "okee dokee!" You will love his art.
#6
The illusion below is called the "Zollner Illusion." In this illusion long lines are crossed by short lines. It makes the long lines look like they are not straight at all. But if you put something straight next to the screen, you will see that are all straight. Your eyes fooled you again.
(No answer below)
Even though our eyes can fool us, they are very important to us. We use our sight every day to get around, to find things, to see what we are doing, and to do what you are doing right now, reading.
But what if your eyes did not work? How would you read? The picture below is someone reading, but they are not using their eyes, they are using their hands.
This kind of writing is called Braille. It is not printing on paper with ink like our books but it is small bumps in the paper that can be felt with the hands.
People who are blind or have eye issues that can't read regular books, can use braille writing to read.
Here is the braille alphabet. The dots are raised on the paper.
If you were blind or had an eye condition that caused you not to be able to read, you would be very happy to have Braille books.
HISTORY: Way back in the 1800's a guy named Charles Barbier was a soldier in Napoleon's army. He saw several men get shot because they were using lamps to read at night. He invented "night writing" so that soldiers could read at night. This was the first form of writing that would inspire braille.
A few years later, a young boy accidentally blinded himself in his father's shop. It was decided he needed to go to a special school in Paris, France, for blind children. There, at only eleven years old, he got the idea of using this "night writing" to make writing for blind people. It took several years but he finally finished the braille system which would help blind people read.
Today thousands of people around the world still use his system to read. Some can read very fast. They are happy to be able to read the same books as everyone else.
By the way, the name of the boy who made this system was Louis Braille.
An interesting story
about NOT seeing
#7
In the illusion below your eye is really fooled. It doesn't look like it but all the green dots are in straight lines going up and down and left and right. Your eye says to your brain that they are in a wave pattern. If you squint your eyes, they look more like waves. This is a real eye-fooler!
(No answer below) (From Wikimedia - AnonMoos)
#8
This shape looks like it could be real but it is an impossible shape. Because it is drawn on a flat surface we can draw it but it could never be made in real life. Don't believe me? Try making it with 3 wooden boards or other long square items. (No answer below) (Thanks pixabay.com)
#9
Here are 4 sets of 3 circles. Part of each circle is a greenish-blue. But do you see an invisible thing here? It looks like there is a square here. It also looks like the white inside the square is brighter than the white outside of it. But, there is no square and no difference in brightness of the white. Once again, our eyes are tricked.
(No answer below) (Thanks wikimedia.org)
This symbol is called the "Eye of Horus." The ancient Egyptians believed it had magic powers. They would paint the eye on their boats to give them good luck when sailing. They thought by painting the eye on something or carving it into stone with their Hieroglyphs (that was the name of their writing which was made up of pictures) it would bring good luck, healing, and wealth.
They thought the eye was lucky because of a story about a man name Horus who got in a fight with another guy named Seth. During the fight Horus got his eye put out but a person name Hathor magically made it well again. So, the eye became a lucky symbol.
But, on this page we are learning that you cannot always trust your eye.
(You can find more about the story online.)
#10
This one will really fool your eyes and maybe your brain too. Below are many white lines crossing each other. Where they cross there is a small white dot. When you look directly at the white dots, all the ones around it seem to change to black. As you move your eyes around, you will see that there is only white dots but you still think you see black dots, just out our your point of focus. Our eyes can do strange things.
(No answer below) (Thanks opticalillusionsportal)
#11
Now, here is one that not everyone can see. The people at Magiceye.com have a lot of these. As a matter of fact you can buy posters and books and lots of things with these kinds of pictures. Just do a search for magic eye images. I am going to put their instructions below the picture. If you can see it, you will be amazed. If you don't, don't worry about it. It was fun trying.
(No answer below) (Thanks magiceye.com) (hint: print out to try)
Instructions from magiceye.com:
Magic Eye images are easier to see when viewed on paper rather than a computer screen. Print the image from this page and follow the instructions below. You don't need to print in color.
Hold the center of the printed image right up to your nose. It should be blurry. Focus as though you are looking through the image into the distance. Very slowly move the image away from your face until the two squares above the image turn into three squares. If you see four squares, move the image farther away from your face until you see three squares. If you see one or two squares, start over!
When you clearly see three squares, hold the page still and the hidden image will magically appear. Once you perceive the hidden image and depth, you can look around the entire 3D image. The longer you look, the clearer the illusion becomes. The farther away you hold the page, the deeper it becomes. Good Luck!
Here is another one to try, if you like.
It is a little harder to see though.
#12
This one is crazy. Remember these are just pictures (or graphics) of images that are still but yet our eyes say that they are moving. In this one, the group of squares in the middle looks as though they are moving. I promise that they are not.
(No answer below)
More illusions coming.
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Answers:
1. The two lines look bent but if you put a straight edge of a piece of paper up to the screen you will see they are not bent at all.
2, (Pictured below) If we place a line of color across each square. You can see they match up.
