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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 activity, learners explore what happens when polarized white light passes through a sugar solution.

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

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.

In this activity, learners explore liquid crystals, light and temperature. Using a postcard made of temperature-sensitive liquid crystal material, learners monitor temperature changes.

In this activity, learners make a photographic image--without a camera!

In this activity, learners use their strength to light a light bulb. A chain made from paper clips is placed in series with a battery and flashlight bulb.

How can you make one shade of gray look like two? By putting it against two different color backgrounds! This activity allows learners to perform this sleight of hand very easily.

In this activity, learners use a compact disc to make a spectrometer, an instrument used to measure properties of light.

An ordinary camera has a lens that makes an image on film. In a pinhole camera, a small hole replaces the lens.

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.

In this activity, learners make their own heat waves in an aquarium.

In this activity, learners trap a thin layer of air between two pieces of Plexiglas to produce rainbow-colored interference patterns.

In this activity, learners make a photographic image—without a camera!

In this activity, learners explore chemiluminescence and fluorescence. Learners examine 3 different solutions in regular light, in the dark with added bleach solution, and under a black light.

Light painting is a creative activity that involves creating striking images and illusions using a camera, a light source, and a little practice.

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.

In this math activity related to light, learners assemble a photometer and use it to estimate the power output of the Sun.

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.