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more often than any other TechnoFrolics exhibit, the Dancing
Trees elicits fascinated inquiries about its inner workings.
The exhibit offers a theatrical, lively and playful display
of computer-controlled electromagnetism.
It consists of fine iron particles above a two-tiered structure
of magnets. The upper tier is a platform that holds the field
of iron particles and a fixed arrangement of slender, vertically-oriented
permanent magnets. The lower tier is a grid of computer-controlled
electromagnets directly underlying the platform.
When at rest, the iron particles are completely motionless,
clustered around the design defined by the permanent magnets
on the platform. In performance, under the influence of the
choreographed computer-controlled electromagnets, the clusters
shiver, sway and dance in uncannily lifelike ways.
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