01101000 01101111 01110111 01100100 01111001 (Fluid)

Final Video

Christopher Kitchen

The Brief

Christopher Kitchen

A large visual representation of 8-bit binary communication, using large clear tubing and purple water to represent data transfers. 

If you've ever learned about computers, chances are that you found it pretty confusing at first. One of the more vital confusing concepts is how wires work: i.e. using "0's and 1's" for transferring information. In order to help people figure out these concepts, I decided to create what is essentially an oversized wire that uses oil and purple water to represent 1's and 0's. In the design I use one pump in an oil reservoir and another in a water reservoir, joined into one main tube. Both the pumps are connected to an arduino which processes your input, transfers it to binary and figures out which pump to trigger when. In the system I have set up, the oil represents 1's, and the purple water representing 0's (would make more sense the other way, but it would be a lot more expensive).