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CD Spinner
Source Institutions
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.
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Rotating Light
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners explore what happens when polarized white light passes through a sugar solution.
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CD Spectroscope
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners use an old CD to construct a spectroscope, a device that separates light into its component colors.
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Morphing Butterfly
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners explore how nanosized structures can create brilliant color.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_100/public/resource_images/smile-000-000-004-705.jpg?itok=fv6LJJbI)
Soap-Film Painting
Source Institutions
Make a big canvas of iridescent color with pvc pipe! In this Exploratorium Science Snack, you'll need to cut and assemble some PVC pipe, but the pay-off, the soap-bubble canvas, is big.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_100/public/resource_images/smile-000-000-004-498.jpg?itok=XfwT9bP_)
Critical Angle
Source Institutions
In this optics activity, learners examine how a transparent material such as glass or water can actually reflect light better than any mirror.
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The Blind Spot
Source Institutions
In this activity (1st on the page), learners find their blind spot--the area on the retina without receptors that respond to light.
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Vanishing Rods
Source Institutions
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.
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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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See the Light
Source Institutions
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.
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Diffraction
Source Institutions
In this optics activity, demonstrate diffraction using a candle or a small bright flashlight bulb and a slide made with two pencils.
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Mini Zoetrope
Source Institutions
In this activity (posted on March 27, 2011), learners follow the steps to construct a mini zoetrope, a device that produces an illusion of action from a rapid succession of static pictures.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_100/public/resource_images/smile-000-000-002-116.jpg?itok=pjKZJLKD)
Spectroscope
Source Institutions
In this activity (posted on March 12, 2011), learners follow the steps to construct a spectroscope, a tool used to analyze light and color.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_100/public/resource_images/smile-000-000-001-570.gif?itok=0bFvmKdA)
Glow Up
Source Institutions
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.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_100/public/resource_images/smile-000-000-002-115.jpg?itok=TbgS2uc2)
Camera Projector
Source Institutions
In this activity (posted on March 14, 2011), learners follow the steps to construct a camera projector to explore lenses and refraction.
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Convection Current
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners make their own heat waves in an aquarium.
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Self-Portrait Silhouettes: Activity 2
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners make a photographic image—without a camera!
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_100/public/resource_images/smile-000-000-001-066.jpg?itok=4LT7gTTb)
See the Light
Source Institutions
Learners mix a solution of luminol with hydrogen peroxide to produce a reaction that gives off blue light.
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Moldy Jell-O
Source Institutions
In this laboratory activity, learners design an experiment to evaluate how environmental factors influence the growth of molds.
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Three Circles of Pigments
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners overlap the three primary colors to see how all other colors are made.