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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.
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.
Total Internal Reflection
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In this activity, learners use a laser pointer, empty soda bottle, rubber plug and water to demonstrate total internal reflection.
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.
Transit Tracks
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In this space science activity, learners explore transits and the conditions when a transit may be seen.
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.
LEGO Orrery
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Use this model to demonstrate the goal of NASA's Kepler Mission: to find extrasolar planets through the transit method.
Gelatin Optic Fibers
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In this activity, learners make optical fibers out of strips of gelatin.
Disappearing Glass Rods
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In this optics activity, learners discover how they can make glass objects "disappear." Learners submerge glass objects like stirring rods into a beaker of Wesson™ oil to explore how the principles of