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Powers of 10 Screen Saver Demonstration
The popular Molecular Expressions version of the famous Powers of 10 concept is now available as a Windows screen saver. Starting 10 million light years away from the Milky Way galaxy, visitors zoom to Earth in incremental steps, each being an order of magnitude less than the previous, until they arrive at the inner reaches of a single carbon atom. This interactive tutorial demonstrates how the screen saver operates, and provides controls that simulate the actual software.
Analogous to the on-line tutorial, the Powers of 10 Windows screen saver initializes at a remote location in outer space approximately 10 million light years away from the Milky Way galaxy. Prior to the first frame of the sequence, a paragraph appears on the screen explaining the upcoming journey and its relationship to the concept of exponential notation. After a few seconds, the sequence of 40 images begins, with the distance traveled appearing at the top of the image and a brief explanation of the image displayed at the bottom. The screen saver steps through the sequence of images in presentation intervals and transition times that can be customized to suit the viewer.
Five control parameters are available in the Powers of 10 screen saver, and these are all simulated in the demonstration. Depressing the keyboard Alt key at any point in the sequence will freeze the screen saver at that point so the viewer can explain a concept to the audience or examine the image more closely. The time interval between successive images presented in the sequence is variable between 0 and 30 seconds (Time Interval Between Images slider), while the transition time for an image to emerge on the screen ranges from 0 to 5 seconds (Transition Time Between Images slider). Both of these variables can be similarly customized in the screen saver software configuration window.
The screen saver cycles through the images starting from a point in outer space, eventually landing face-to-face with quarks at the center of a carbon atom nucleus, and then returns in reverse steps back to the original starting point. In order to recycle the image sequence starting at the beginning without reversing the steps, use the mouse cursor to uncheck the Reverse Transition checkbox (the screen saver software default setting for this checkbox is on). Captions can also be displayed or hidden, depending upon the viewer's preference.
Perfect for in-class demonstrations or lectures in front of a large audience, the Powers of Ten screen saver is available in 3 screen sizes of 1000, 800, and 600 pixels (square) to fit the most popular screen resolutions on both desktop and portable computers.
The Powers of Ten screen saver is available only with a limited license that allows use of the software on a single computer. An Internet connection is required for installing and un-installing the software, and to activate the license. It is the user's responsibility to ensure that an Internet connection is established when attempting to install or uninstall the software.
Frequently Asked Questions - The Molecular Expressions software support team has compiled a listing of the most frequently asked questions by customers who are attempting to download and install screen saver software. If you encounter problems with your software, please take a moment to look over these questions and answers before contacting us for technical support.
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