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Why is the Sky Purple?
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This simple hands-on activity demonstrates why the sky appears blue on a sunny day and red during sunrise and sunset.
Release the Rainbow
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In this activity, learners create a water prism to break light into the seven colors of the rainbow.
Triboluminescence
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In this activity, learners discover what happens when they crush wintergreen-flavored candies in a very dark room.
Parabolas: It's All Done with Mirrors
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In this activity about light and reflection, learners use a special device called a Mirage Maker™ to create an illusion.
Rotating Light
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In this activity, learners explore what happens when polarized white light passes through a sugar solution.
Slide Projector Activities
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This resource contains several mini-explorations using a slide projector as a light source to investigate light and the properties of images.
Convection Current
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In this activity, learners make their own heat waves in an aquarium.
Colored Shadows
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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.
The Geophysical Light/Dark Cycle
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This is an activity (located on page 131 of the PDF) related to sleep and circadian rhythms as well as space travel.
Phantom Phlame
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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.
Rainbow in the Room
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This activity generates learner excitement about light through the creation of a room-sized rainbow.
Diffraction
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In this optics activity, demonstrate diffraction using a candle or a small bright flashlight bulb and a slide made with two pencils.
Touch the Spring (Lightbulb)
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In this activity, a lightbulb is placed in front of a concave mirror. The actual lightbulb is not visible to the viewer, but the viewer can see the mirror image of the lightbulb formed in space.
Bone Stress
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In this optics activity, learners examine how polarized light can reveal stress patterns in clear plastic.
Dark Adaptation
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In this activity (6th on the page), learners investigate how photoreceptors in the eye (rods and cones) "adapt" to low light conditions.
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.
Battling for Oxygen
Working in groups, learners model the continuous destruction and creation of ozone (O3) molecules, which occur in the ozone layer.
Gelatin Optic Fibers
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In this activity, learners make optical fibers out of strips of gelatin.
Light as Air
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In this physics activity (page 6 of the PDF), learners will demonstrate air has weight by comparing an inflated balloon to a deflated one.
Lager Lamp
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In this demonstration, adult learners create a lava lamp using beer and nuts! Use this pub-themed activity to demonstrate the effects of buoyancy and bubbles.