We relate the word "kaleidoscope" to a changing world. But in Greek, "kaleidoscope" means 'beautiful' , not "changeable" view. Do you want to see the world through the kaleidoscope? Look into the tube. Isn't that beautiful?

To understand how a kaleidoscope works look through it on a lamp, but from the other end. There are only three mirrors inside, sometimes even two. The green slivers placed between two diaphragms, of which one is mat and the other transparent, resemble leaves. The pink slivers resemble petals of a flower while the red ones resemble a stalk.

The kaleidoscope was the favourite entertainment on the court of Queen Victoria in England over 100 years ago.

The Kaleidoscope was invented by Scottish physicist David Brewster (1781 - 1868), the same one who showed that light could be plane-polarized by shining a beam on surface of a dielectric.

The mirrors are parallel to its axis and they are positioned at the angle of 22.5, 30 or 60 degrees one with relation to the others. Flowery images that we see are created as a result of multiplied reflection off the mirrors inside the kaleidoscope.

The name itself originates from Greek kalos (beautiful) + eidos (image) + skopeo (see).