Here's an idea I was working on to display 3D space.
Material: One 4'x8' sheet of pegboard cut in half to yield
two 4'x4' sheets.
Four eyehooks
Heavy string
Thread
Numerous little colored balls of various sizes.
Place the eyehooks into the ceiling. Attach one of the sheets of
pegboard to the eyehooks with the heavy string and a few feet lower
attach the other pegboard sheet.
The lower pegboard is the base XY plane at Z of 0. I used a scale of
one parsec between holes and a similar distance for the Z scale for
interstellar distances. Roughly one inch between holes which yields
a 48x48x48 parsec cube of space.
The numerous little colored balls of various sizes represent the stars
of varying stellar class and size. Use the thread for the Z-axis and
cut to the appropriate length.
Hang the threaded balls from the upper pegboard sheet for the positive
coordinates and from the lower sheet for the negative coordinates.
Now you have a pretty good picture of 3D space! And for added visual
effect use black thread and fluorescent paints for the stars. Turn out
the lights and illuminate with a black light to get a really neat
display!
To convince your spouse that this isn't permanent you can hang some
plants from the hooks when your gaming buddies aren't around! ;-)
Mike
[email removed]