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No Eclipse Glasses? No Problem

Our Inland Northwest correspondent Emily Schwing missed out on getting a pair of eclipse sungalsses, so she built a simple pinhole projector.
Emily Schwing
/
Northwest News Network
Our Inland Northwest correspondent Emily Schwing missed out on getting a pair of eclipse sungalsses, so she built a simple pinhole projector.

Miss out on eclipse glasses? If so, there’s still plenty of time for a homemade science project. 


All you need to make a pinhole projector is a cereal box, a pin, a pair of scissors, some aluminum foil, and a roll of tape.



Step 1: Tape the box closed.

Step 2: Cut two rectangles out of the top, and cover one with some aluminum foil. 



Step 3:

 Take the pin and poke a small hole in the foil.

And that’s it. You've built your own pinhole projector so you can safely watch the eclipse. 


During the eclipse, stand with your back to the sun and look through the uncovered hole while sun light passes through the pinhole. What you’ll see inside the box should be an inverted image of the eclipse—called the camera obscura effect.

Need illustrations? NASA has a handy little video that walks you through it.

https://youtu.be/vWMf5rYDgpc

Copyright 2017 Northwest News Network

Emily Schwing
Emily Schwing comes to the Inland Northwest by way of Alaska, where she covered social and environmental issues with an Arctic spin as well as natural resource development, wildlife management and Alaska Native issues for nearly a decade. Her work has been heard on National Public Radio’s programs like “Morning Edition” and “All things Considered.” She has also filed for Public Radio International’s “The World,” American Public Media’s “Marketplace,” and various programs produced by the BBC and the CBC. She has also filed stories for Scientific American, Al Jazeera America and Arctic Deeply.