Search Results
Showing results 1 to 20 of 52
See the Light
Source Institutions
In this three-part activity, learners conduct simple experiments to see how light refracts and reflects, and how colors of light affect what we see.
Self-Portrait Silhouettes: Activity 1
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners make a photographic image--without a camera!
Mix-N-Match Light
Source Institutions
This is an online exhibit about color perception. Learners set a random background color and then try to mix red, blue, and green light to match.
Color Vision
Source Institutions
In this online activity, learners make a whole rainbow by mixing red, green, and blue light. They can change the wavelength of a monochromatic beam or they can filter white light.
Spectroscope
Source Institutions
In this activity (posted on March 12, 2011), learners follow the steps to construct a spectroscope, a tool used to analyze light and color.
Laser Jello
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners use gelatin as a lens to investigate the properties of laser light.
Three Circles of Pigments
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners overlap the three primary colors to see how all other colors are made.
CD Spectroscope
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners use an old CD to construct a spectroscope, a device that separates light into its component colors.
Your Father's Nose
Source Institutions
In this fun optics activity, learners explore principles of light, reflection (mirrors), and perception. Learners work in pairs and sit on opposite sides of a "two-way" mirror.
Rotating Light
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners explore what happens when polarized white light passes through a sugar solution.
Inverse Square Law
Source Institutions
In this math activity related to light, learners explore why a light, such as a candle or a streetlight, looks dimmer the farther away from it we get.
Soap-Film Interference Model: Get on our wavelength!
Source Institutions
By making models of light waves with paper, learners can understand why different colors appear in bubbles.
CD Spectrometer
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners use a compact disc to make a spectrometer, an instrument used to measure properties of light.
Give and Take
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners explore liquid crystals, light and temperature. Using a postcard made of temperature-sensitive liquid crystal material, learners monitor temperature changes.
It's all Done with Mirrors
Source Institutions
This fun and simple hands-on astronomy activity illustrates the path of light as it reflects off of mirrors and how this is used in telescopes.
Self-Portrait Silhouettes: Activity 2
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners make a photographic image—without a camera!
On the Fringe (formerly Bridge Light)
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners trap a thin layer of air between two pieces of Plexiglas to produce rainbow-colored interference patterns.
Convection Current
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners make their own heat waves in an aquarium.
Colored Shadows
Source Institutions
In this optics activity, learners discover that not all shadows are black. Learners explore human color perception by using colored lights to make additive color mixtures.
Phantom Phlame
Source Institutions
In this trick, hold your hand over a burning candle without getting burned, by reflecting and transmitting the light of two candles. This activity is best suited as a demonstration.