Interior Clouds
Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde creates temporary clouds inside rooms by regulating the temperature and humidity inside the rooms.
When I saw this it immediately reminded me of an experiment conducted in the eighteenth century by the Dutch scientist Martin van Marum. He created two artificial clouds by filling calf's bladders with hydrogen, causing them to float around his laboratory. He gave one of these bladder-clouds a positive charge, and another a negative charge. As these charged clouds floated around, sparks would pass between them. This was Van Marum's way of simulating a lightning storm.
But van Marum had an extra trick that was always a great crowd pleaser. He introduced a third (non-charged) cloud into the room. When this non-charged cloud passed between the two charged ones as they were exchanging sparks, it would noisily explode into flames (kinda like a miniature Hindenburg). That's how to do an interior cloud installation properly!
When I saw this it immediately reminded me of an experiment conducted in the eighteenth century by the Dutch scientist Martin van Marum. He created two artificial clouds by filling calf's bladders with hydrogen, causing them to float around his laboratory. He gave one of these bladder-clouds a positive charge, and another a negative charge. As these charged clouds floated around, sparks would pass between them. This was Van Marum's way of simulating a lightning storm.
But van Marum had an extra trick that was always a great crowd pleaser. He introduced a third (non-charged) cloud into the room. When this non-charged cloud passed between the two charged ones as they were exchanging sparks, it would noisily explode into flames (kinda like a miniature Hindenburg). That's how to do an interior cloud installation properly!
Comments
I've heard tell that the old dirigible hangers would/could develop their own weather (rain, clouds, etc) because of their immense size.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 03/13/12 at 10:10 AM
I'm a little cloudy on how cirrus this guys art is. It seems a bit too light weight to be down to earth.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 03/13/12 at 10:11 AM
I examined the other offerings on the artist's site. While I'm not much of an art guy, I found his other works somewhat understated as opposed to some modern artists. Especially those who just splash paint on a canvas and get thousands of bucks for them.
Posted by KDP on 03/13/12 at 11:36 AM
The dirigible hangars did create their own weather inside when you left the doors closed. I worked at a base that has 2 of them, a few years ago.
Posted by RDC on 03/13/12 at 02:25 PM
Even when you had the doors open on the dirigible hangars, you would sometimes get low-hanging clouds drifting through, as well.
Posted by RDC on 03/13/12 at 02:28 PM
Imagine a Wilson's cloud chamber so large you could walk around in it!
Cloud chambers were originally used to demonstrate that radioactivity is all around us.
http://web.archive.org/web/20080630234206/http://njsas.org/projects/atoms/cloud_chamber/index.php
Cloud chambers were originally used to demonstrate that radioactivity is all around us.
http://web.archive.org/web/20080630234206/http://njsas.org/projects/atoms/cloud_chamber/index.php
Posted by tadchem on 03/13/12 at 02:28 PM
Nothing spells entertainment like exploding calf bladders! Pretty cool effect though.
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 03/13/12 at 08:17 PM
I made clouds as a kid over 50 years ago. Everytime i entered the warm and very humid cow barn in very cold weather a ghost would appear inthe hallway and wave at me =/
Posted by Techs on 03/14/12 at 02:33 AM
I believe the interior weather was the reason Astroturf was invented. As I heard it, the Astrodome had real grass. One day, it occurred to the owners that they were paying a not-so-small fortune to keep the dome air-conditioned when it wasn't in use. So they turned the A/C off. And it clouded over and rained inside the dome. Sooo, they turned to artificial turf.
Posted by TheCannyScot in Atlanta, GA on 03/15/12 at 06:44 PM
This is how i want my earthly remains to be disposed of - ashes, then poof!
Posted by done on 03/15/12 at 11:41 PM
To paraphrase Coco Chanel, when accessorizing always burn off the last thing you put on
Posted by Eoin on 03/18/12 at 03:54 AM
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Category: Art | Science | Experiments