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Exploring Materials: Nano Gold
Source Institutions
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.
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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.
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Make a Prism
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners will make their own prism and use a glass of water to separate sunlight into different colors.
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Exploring Materials: Thin Films
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners create a colorful bookmark using a super thin layer of nail polish on water. Learners discover that a thin film creates iridescent, rainbow colors.
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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.
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Light Quest
Source Institutions
Learners test their "light-smarts" by playing a game called "Light Quest!" The game board represents an atom and each player represents an electron that has been bumped into the atom's outer unstable
![](/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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Glow in the Dark Jello
Source Institutions
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.