Shadowgraph  

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Shadowgraph is an optical method that reveals non-uniformities in transparent media like air, water, or glass. It is related to, but simpler than, the schlieren and schlieren photography methods that perform a similar function.

In principle, we cannot directly see a difference in temperature, a different gas, or a shock wave in the transparent air. However, all these disturbances refract light rays, so they can cast shadows. The plume of hot air rising from a fire, for example, can be seen by way of its shadow cast upon a nearby surface by the uniform sunlight.

This technique is as old as nature itself. For example, some aquatic predators detect their transparent prey by way of their shadows cast upon the ocean floor. Nevertheless it was Robert Hooke who first scientifically demonstrated the sunlight shadowgraph and Jean-Paul Marat who first used it to study fire. A modern account of shadowgraphy is given by Settles.

Applications of shadowgraphy in science and technology are very broad. It is used in aeronautical engineering to see the flow about high-speed aircraft and missiles, as well as in combustion research, ballistics, explosions, and in the testing of glass.

The Shadowgraph, and shadogram have been use in animation. It permits to reinforce the realism of the cartoon. One first use was made by Disney Studios on the Three Blind Mouseketeers (1936) Silly Symphonies.

Additionally the term 'Shadowgraph' was used by English postcard publishers E.T.W. Dennis & Sons Ltd. of London and Scarborough for a series of 'Hold up to the Light' postcards in the 1950s. In these a saucy image can be seen through what seems an innocent picture when a light is shone through the card.




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Shadowgraph" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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