3D Hologram with Phone and Storage Container

🎂 6 + years ⏱️ 20 min 📍 Everywhere ⭐ medium

Imagine a fish swimming in your storage container, but without water! You only need a clear container, your phone, and a hologram video. Place the phone at an angle in the container and turn your screen brightness all the way up. Now you can see the fish floating in the air! A cool light trick that you can try yourself. The image from the phone is reflected in such a way that your brain thinks: The fish is really there! An exciting experiment where you can marvel, tinker, and learn how light and reflection work. Give it a try, all you need is your curiosity!

What you'll need

rectangular clear storage container
a phone
a hologram video

How it works

You need a storage container made of clear plastic or glass. It's important that it's big enough for your phone to fit in at an angle, and you can see through the bottom.
Search for '3D Hologram Video' on YouTube Kids or in a child-safe media library. There are videos where fish or other figures appear against a black background.
Set your phone to full brightness. And here we go! Lights off, curtains up! The darker the room, the stronger the effect. Place your phone at an angle in the container so that the display faces down. Look from above or slightly at an angle into the container. What do you see?
What happens if you tilt the phone differently? Or try a different video? You might also find butterflies, jellyfish, or planets. You can test anything that works as a hologram video.
Your phone shows an image of a fish. When you place it at an angle in the clear container, the light is reflected in such a way that it looks to your eye like the fish is swimming in the air. Just a trick with light, and your brain makes it into a real hologram.