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SyntheticOne t1_iyj3en1 wrote

Our son did a science fair project on a "color detection robot" which we researched and built together. The project electronics began with three band-pass optical filters tuned to RED BLUE GREEN (donated to him by a New Jersey optics firm). Each filter allowed the passing of light within the center of the wavelengths for each color. Then we added an octal decoder chip with three inputs (one from each of the filters) and eight outputs: red blue green yellow brown violet black and white (each lit by an LED).

The wonderful moment? We've all heard that white is the presence of all colors but it's a little hard to swallow. Our son held a white piece of paper in front of the three optical bandpass filters and all three filters turned on their outputs and then the octal decoder indicated "white", all colors!

His project won 2nd place in that year's regional Exxon Mobile Science Fair.

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Anezay t1_iykc61q wrote

What got first over that, a study of how much cash would fit in the judges' pockets?

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SyntheticOne t1_iykwero wrote

The winner was a kid who built a radio receiver capable of listening for signals from space.

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Cryptizard t1_iyk8v3c wrote

Exxon Mobile Science Fair sounds like something from Idiocracy.

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