Periodic Table as Art? You Betcha!

This week's SOTW comes from the mind of an artist that goes by the name AzureGrackle aka Jennifer Schmitt.

Where does inspiration come from? Well for Jennifer it came in the form of previous artwork laid out for review on the floor and noticing that the layout of the prints resembled a Periodic Table of the elements. This connection between art and science might have been missed if the artist's mother hadn't been recently retired from teaching high school chemistry and physics for 30 years.

Once an artist is inspired Zymurgy's first law of evolving system dynamics takes over. What is this law? Well it states that "Once you open a can of worms, the only way to re-can them is to use a larger can." The idea was out there and there was no going back so Jennifer put the word out and the result is fantastic. For more insight into this project read an interview with Jennifer in Etsy.

From the project site

"Ninety-six printmakers of all experience levels, have joined together to produce 118 prints in any medium; woodcut, linocut, monotype, etching, lithograph, silkscreen, or any combination. The end result is a periodic table of elements intended to promote both science and the arts."

Well done to Jennifer and the 96 contributors!

via Reality Carnival Unleashed

Fractal Friday

SciArt covers many forms of expression but a favorite of many of us is the fractal. Here is an excellent example of fractal art. I would like to thank him for allowing the use of the "blog this" function of flickr.

Flickr Artist: cammi_angel_2004
cammi_angel_2004, the artist, says this about his art,

"I currently have a major obsession with Apophysis, a fractal-making program. Apophysis is a mathematical computer program that crunches numbers based on formulas built-into the program, and some that the user can create, to generate branching patterns of color. The program is free to download and use from this address: www.apophysis.org/"

Plasma Pong

What was the first video game to achieve widespread popularity in both arcade and home console versions, and launched the initial boom in the video game industry? You guessed it, Pong by Atari.

How is this first video game associated with my pick for Site of the Week? The site selected this week is the home of Plasma Pong. You heard me pong has been brought into the 21 century!


The game was created by Steve Taylor. He describes the game by saying,

"PLASMA PONG is a variation of PONG that utilizes real-time fluid dynamics to drive the game environment.

Players have several new abilities that add fun twists to the classic game. In the game you can inject plasma fluid into the environment, create a vacuum from your paddle, and blast shockwaves into the playing area. All these abilities have fluid-based kinetic effects on the ball, making Plasma Pong a fast-paced and exciting game."

For bringing old school video games, modern science, and art together in an amazing game "Plasma Pong" is the first Sci-Art Site of the Week. Thanks Steve, also check out his screen shots gallery, Amazing!

Here is a video of the game. The left side is a real player the right side is the computer. The music you hear in the video is from the game itself.


Go to Plasma Pong and download a version for your machine and start playing today.