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Alissa of Rochester, NY
Find a spot in your eye where you can't see anything!
- To find your blind spot, take a piece of paper and draw a small X on the right side.
- Now, take your ruler and measure about 5 inches to the left of the X.
- Draw a dot there about the size of a penny.
- Hold the paper in front of you and close your right eye. Look at the X. Even though you're looking at the X you should be able to see the dot out of the corner of your eye.
- Slowly move the paper in front of you. Try moving it left and right or closer and farther away. Remember to keep looking at the X. At a certain point, the dot will seem to disappear out of the corner of your eye.
Here's the sci scoop on why this works: On the back of your eye, your retina, you have cells called rods and cones that catch light and send messages to your brain along your nerves, which are like wires. All your nerves go through your retina in just one spot. In this spot, there are no rods and cones. Since you don't have any rods and cones there to catch light, you can't see with that part of your eye.
The reason you don't notice your blind spot is because your brain fills in that part of your vision with what it thinks should be there. So when the dot goes into your blind spot, your brain fills in that space with the color of your paper because that's what surrounds it.
How big is your blind spot? Will the dot still disappear if it's as big as a quarter? How about if it's a different shape, like a square or a star? Try it out, and send your results to ZOOM.
Jose, age 10 of Alton wrote:
I saw the dot then it disappeared.
Isabel, age 9 of Dallas, TX wrote:
I tried it and it worked! So cool! This is a great project, I'm thinking about adding it to my list of what to do this year for my science project.
Mykaila, age 12 of Lashburn, SK wrote:
it didnt fully fade away but it faded so it was jus a small dot
Izela, age 10 of Las Vegas, NV wrote:
when I held the paper in front of me and closed my right the dot autamaticly dissapeared. that was so awsome!
Rose, age 9 of Arlington, MA wrote:
It worked and my did it and it worked on them too! I'm doing this experiment for my third grade science fair project.
Cheyenne, age 10 of Evansville, IN wrote:
it didn't work like it was supposed to do
Hannah, age 16 of Somerville, MA wrote:
It worked almost immediatly I couldn't belive it. It was so cool. I tried with a square and an 'x' and it still worked.
ZOOM Fan, age 11 of Fort Collins, CO wrote:
I thought I did not have a blind spot, but when I diid the experiment I was weong and it was very easy to find my blind spot!
Summer, age 13 of Laurel, MS wrote:
This is so cool. I didn't think it was working but then I realized that I was using the wrong eye, so then I tried the other one and I saw it almost right away.
Jessica, age 11 of New York, NY wrote:
When I looked back at the dot it came back and I tried to put my finger in the dot when I couldn't see it. I even did the oppisite side which means I did the same thing with the x.
Kyndale, age 13 of Auburn, AL wrote:
it works with both eyes!!! when I looked at the x with my left eye the dot dissapeared!!! when I looked at the dot with my right eye the x dissapeared!!!
Katie, age 12 of Richmond, IN wrote:
I had to go farther than what my arms could reach.
Kate, age 8 of Grover Beach, CA wrote:
It worked! I could see the x and the dot, but I could see the x better.
Gabrielle, age 11 of Gorham, ME wrote:
It worked but it took a few trys. I think the experiment is verry cool and fun for everry one.
Emily, age 15 of Hollywood, CA wrote:
like I could not see the sqare on the left when I looked at it and started to move the book left it was cool
Massie, age 11 of Laplace, LA wrote:
it disappeared just like that! I am soooo doing this as my science fair experiment.
Bart, age 11 of Albany, NY wrote:
it disapeared in nowhere I loved this. experiment.
Jessica, age 12 of Caboolture wrote:
it was so awesome it just disappeared like it wasnt there at all. it was da best
Crystal, age 13 of San Diego, CA wrote:
It was so awesome! I had to do it several times to get it right, but it disappeared!
Mikalah, age 11 of Philadelphia wrote:
When I first did it it did not work the I did it agen it it did it was so much fun I told all my friends and thay loved it
Mikaylah, age 16 of Albany, NY wrote:
It was cool! It dissapeared!
Megan, age 9 of Saint John, NB wrote:
it was VERY cool! I looked at the X and the dot went away! It took a while for the dot to go away but it worked really well! Then I took another pice of paper and I did it backwards. The dot was on the right and the X was on the left and the X went away it was so so so so so so so so so so cool!!!
Liz, age 10 of Perry, MI wrote:
I try it worked but I couldn't find the spot where the dot disappear again.
Nycollette of Dover wrote:
The dot dissapeared 5 inches away from my eye! It was really freaky at first. Then I tried it on my mom and she screamed!
Barth, age 7 of Geneva, IL wrote:
When I moved it to the right, I saw the dot, but I moved it to the left, it kind of disappeared not from my sight, but the paper! It happened because I used a large piece of paper.
Logan, age 10 of Toledo, OH wrote:
The dot stayed on the paper.
Lexi, age 10 of Hollywood, CA wrote:
I tried it and it worked! It is awesome! Except when I did it, I did a star and a square!
Shyenne, age 12 of Lubbock, TX wrote:
I was looking dicectly at the x. When I moved the paper closer I could see the dot better. When I moved the dot further away (about a few inches) the dot disappered. It kind of scared me.
Lindsey, age 12 of Vestal, NY wrote:
When I did the experiment, the dot dissapeared. I held the paper about half an arms length away and it dissapeared. It was cool.
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