What is the construction of a …

The kaleidoscope is an instrument or a toy containing inclined plane mirrors which produce multiple reflections of coloured glass pieces and create beautiful patterns. The coloured glass pieces act as objects and the inclined plane mirrors form multiple images of these glass pieces by repeated reflections, which look like beautiful patterns or designs.

To make a kaleidoscope, take three rectangular mirror strips about 15 cm long and 4 cm wide each and join them together to form a prism. Fix them in a circular cardboard tube or tube of a thick chart paper. Close one end of the tube by a cardboard disc having a hole in the centre, through which you can see. To make the disc durable, paste a piece of transparent plastic sheet under the cardboard disc. At the other end, touching the mirrors, fix a circular plane glass plate. Place on this glass plate several small pieces of coloured glass. Close this end of the tube by a ground glass plate. Allow enough space for the colour pieces to move around.

To make a kaleidoscope, get three rectangular mirror strips each about 15 cm long and 4 cm wide. Join them together to form a prism as shown in Fig. (a). Fix this arrangement of mirrors in a circular cardboard tube or tube of a thick chart paper. Make sure that the tube is slightly longer than the mirror strips. Close one end of the tube by a cardboard disc having a hole in the centre, through which you can see [Fig (b)]. To make the disc durable, paste a piece of the transparent plastic sheet under the cardboard disc. At the other end, touching the mirrors, fix a circular plane glass plate [Fig (c)]. Place on this glass plate several small pieces of coloured glass (broken pieces of coloured bangles). Close this end of the tube by a ground glass plate. Allow enough space for the colour pieces to move around.