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Soap Bubble Shapes
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Learners explore three-dimensional geometric frames including cubes and tetrahedrons, as they create bubble wands with pipe cleaners and drinking straws.
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.
Spherical Reflections
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In this art meets science activity, learners pack silver, ball-shaped ornaments in a single layer in a box to create an array of spherical reflectors.
Pupil
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In this activity, learners explore their eye pupils and how they change.
Mirrors and Images
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In this optics activity, learners explore how many objects they can see in a set of mirrors (hinged like a book) at various angles.
CD Spectroscope
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In this activity, learners use an old CD to construct a spectroscope, a device that separates light into its component colors.
Reflecting Rainbows: Decorate Your White Walls With Rainbow Colors!
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Like water drops in falling rain, a CD separates white light into all the colors that make it up.
Water Illusions: Refraction & Magnification
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Learners demonstrate how water can distort, refract and magnify light.
Morphing Butterfly
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In this activity, learners explore how nanosized structures can create brilliant color.
Earth's Energy Cycle: Albedo
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In this activity, learners experiment and observe how the color of materials that cover the Earth affects the amounts of sunlight our planet absorbs.
Cylindrical Mirror
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In this activity, learners create a cylindrical mirror to see themselves as others see them.
Magic Wand
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In this activity about light and perception, learners create pictures in thin air.
Polarized Light
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In this optics activity, learners experiment with polarizers (small dark rectangles) to examine light intensity.
Hot Spot
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In this activity, learners explore the invisible infrared radiation from an electric heater.
Look Into Infinity
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Learners use two mirrors to explore how images of images of images can repeat forever.
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Angles of Reflection
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In this optics activity, learners work in pairs to explore how mirrors work. Learners use tape to mark the angles needed to see each other's reflection in a wall mirror.
Critical Angle
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In this optics activity, learners examine how a transparent material such as glass or water can actually reflect light better than any mirror.
Kaleidoscope
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In this activity, learners build inexpensive kaleidoscopes using transparency paper and foil (instead of mirrors).
Make a Light Fountain
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In this optics activity, learners make a "light fountain" from a clear plastic bottle, flashlight, and other simple materials.
Eye Spy
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This fun activity uses simple materials such as milk cartons and mirrors to introduce the ideas of optics and visual perception.