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Showing results 1 to 15 of 15
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Light Painting
Source Institutions
Light painting is a creative activity that involves creating striking images and illusions using a camera, a light source, and a little practice.
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Pictures From Light
Source Institutions
Did you know that using a lens one can bend light to make pictures of the world? It's true!
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Bubbularium: See the Colors in Bubbles
Source Institutions
With little more than a flashlight, a straw, and a plastic lid, make an observatory so you can see the amazing colors in bubbles.
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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.
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Slide Projector Activities
Source Institutions
This resource contains several mini-explorations using a slide projector as a light source to investigate light and the properties of images.
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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.
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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.
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Soap Bubble Shapes
Source Institutions
Learners explore three-dimensional geometric frames including cubes and tetrahedrons, as they create bubble wands with pipe cleaners and drinking straws.
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Up Periscope!
Source Institutions
This activity provides instructions for building a mirrored tube--a smaller and simpler version of a submarine's periscope--that lets you see around corners and over walls.
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Seeing Your Retina
Source Institutions
In this quick optics activity, learners use a dim point of light (a disassembled Mini MagLite and dowel set-up) to cast a shadow of the blood supply in their retina onto the retina itself.
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Persistence of Vision
Source Institutions
If you had a long tube with a 5 millimeter wide slit, would you see the entire Golden Gate Bridge?
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Aluminum-Air Battery: Foiled again!
Source Institutions
Construct a simple battery that's able to power a small light or motor out of foil, salt water, and charcoal. A helpful video, produced by the Exploratorium, guides you along on this activity.
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Pringles Pinhole Camera
Source Institutions
An ordinary camera has a lens that makes an image on film. In a pinhole camera, a small hole replaces the lens.
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Make Your Own Telescope
Source Institutions
Discover how a refracting telescope works by making one from scratch using common items. This telescope won't have a tube so the learner can see how an image is formed inside the telescope.
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How to View a Solar Eclipse
Source Institutions
This is an activity to do when there is a solar eclipse!