Visualize subtle changes in air pressure and temperature around everyday objects
Schlieren imaging is an optical technique that enhances contrast within transparent media. By capturing how light refracts through density gradients, which are driven by variations in temperature, pressure, and velocity, the method makes invisible gas flows visible. This technique is widely used across engineering and physics to study complex thermal and fluid dynamics. This setup uses a point source, a large concave mirror, and a knife-edge spatial filter to perform Schlieren imaging. Even extremely slight pressure and temperature variations in the sample region near the large mirror yield spectacular, high-contrast patterns on the viewing screen.
