Smoke Machines and Lasers

As a step towards creating a laser harp, we experimented with a smoke machine and a laser pointer. To our surprise and delight, we discovered that the laser pointer will illuminate a slice of the smoke, revealing the turbulence.

We realized that the laser harp doesn't need to have discrete strings. Instead, it can be an entire pie slice, and you could slide your finger back and forth to have a continuous progression of sound.

Smoke from smoke machine, viewed with laser

smoke laser ping pong