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Splitting White Light
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In this optics activity, learners split white light into all its component colors using three household items: a compact disc, dishwashing liquid, and a hose (outside).
Transparent Gelatin
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In this optics activity, learners explore how they can make gelatin stop light, but not stop them from seeing fruit suspended within.
The Bent Pencil
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In this optics activity, learners explore how light bends and affects what we see.
Make a Light Fountain
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In this optics activity, learners make a "light fountain" from a clear plastic bottle, flashlight, and other simple materials.
Bending Light
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In this optics activity, learners make a lens and explore how the eye manipulates the light that enters it.
CD Spectroscope
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In this activity, learners use an old CD to construct a spectroscope, a device that separates light into its component colors.
Soap-Film Interference Model: Get on our wavelength!
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By making models of light waves with paper, learners can understand why different colors appear in bubbles.
Mix and Match
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In this optics activity, learners explore color by examining color dots through colored water and the light of a flashlight.
The Ripple Tank
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In this optics activity, learners create a ripple tank from household materials to study waves. Learners build the tank and then explore by making various types of waves.
Rainbow Refraction
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In this activity, learners will explore how light can refract or break apart into different colors.
Pinhole Viewer
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In this activity, learners discuss and investigate how cameras, telescopes, and their own eyes use light in similar ways.
Magic Wand
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In this activity about light and perception, learners create pictures in thin air.
Rainbow in the Room
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This activity generates learner excitement about light through the creation of a room-sized rainbow.
Pinhole Magnifier
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In this activity related to light and perception, learners use a pinhole in an index card as a magnifying glass to help their eye focus on a nearby object.
Seeing Your Blind Spot
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This activity (aka "snack") provides instructions for discovering your blind spot. It is an exploration of light and visual perception using simple materials you may have around the house.
Mirrors and Images
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In this optics activity, learners explore how many objects they can see in a set of mirrors (hinged like a book) at various angles.
Vanishing Rods
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This is a quick activity/demonstration that introduces learners to the concept of index of refraction. Learners place stirring rods in a jar of water and notice they can see them clearly.
The Three Little Pigments: Science activity that demonstrates the primary and secondary colors of lightScience activity that demonstrates the primary and secondary colors of light The Three Little Pigments Know your C, M, Y, and K.
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Align four color transparencies, each one a single color (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black), and see a beautiful full color image.
The Blind Spot
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In this activity (1st on the page), learners find their blind spot--the area on the retina without receptors that respond to light.
Afterimage
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In this activity about light and perception, learners discover how a flash of light can create a lingering image called an "afterimage" on the retina of the eye.