Search Results

In this activity, learners discover that nanoparticles of gold can appear red, orange or even blue. They learn that a material can act differently when it’s nanometer-sized.

In this activity, learners create a simple “top” from a CD, marble and bottle cap, and use it as a spinning platform for a variety of illusion-generating patterns.

In this experiment, learners work in teams to investigate how the color of a surface influences its ability to reflect light and therefore heat.

In this activity, learners use an old CD to construct a spectroscope, a device that separates light into its component colors.

In this activity, learners explore how nanosized structures can create brilliant color.

In this activity (1st on the page), learners find their blind spot--the area on the retina without receptors that respond to light.

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.

In this activity, learners will make homemade jello that glows under a blacklight. They will learn about quinine, an ingredient in tonic water that is fluorescent.

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.

In this optics activity, demonstrate diffraction using a candle or a small bright flashlight bulb and a slide made with two pencils.

In this activity (posted on March 12, 2011), learners follow the steps to construct a spectroscope, a tool used to analyze light and color.

In this activity (posted on March 14, 2011), learners follow the steps to construct a camera projector to explore lenses and refraction.

In this activity, learners use a flashlight, a glass of water, and some milk to examine why the sky is blue and sunsets are red.

In this activity, learners create night lights using a plastic cup, programmable PICO Cricket, tri-color LED, and sensor.

In this activity, learners overlap the three primary colors to see how all other colors are made.

Do you have a hard time matching paint swatches with your furniture? When you consider human perception, color is context dependent.

In this lab (Activity #1 on page), learners explore how we see color.

In this activity, learners explore the many uses of periscopes and how this simple device was designed and is used in many applications.

In this activity, learners test the Law of Reflection based on experimental evidence. Learners produce raw data and explanations based on their data: pencil tracings of incident and reflection rays.

In this activity, learners construct wands that play different notes depending on information from light sensors programmed via a PICO Cricket.