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Kaleidoscope
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In this activity, learners investigate the reflective properties of light and mirrors as they make a kaleidoscope.
Sliding Gray Step
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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.
Slide Projector Activities
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This resource contains several mini-explorations using a slide projector as a light source to investigate light and the properties of images.
Moiré Patterns
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In this activity about light and perception, learners create and observe moire patterns.
Give and Take
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In this activity, learners explore liquid crystals, light and temperature. Using a postcard made of temperature-sensitive liquid crystal material, learners monitor temperature changes.
CD Spectrometer
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In this activity, learners use a compact disc to make a spectrometer, an instrument used to measure properties of light.
Pringles Pinhole Camera
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An ordinary camera has a lens that makes an image on film. In a pinhole camera, a small hole replaces the lens.
Interference in a Ripple Tank
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In this optics activity, learners explore interference by adding wax blocks to a ripple tank.
Sensory Hi-Lo Hunt
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In this outdoor activity, learners use only their senses to to find the extremes of several environmental variables or physical factors: wind, temperature, light, slope and moisture.
Rainbow Film
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In this activity, learners use clear nail polish to create a beautiful iridescent pattern on black paper. Learners discover that a thin film creates iridescent, rainbow colors.
Underwater Hide and Seek
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In this activity, learners experience firsthand how marine animals' adaptive coloration camouflages them from prey.
Polarized Sunglasses
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In this activity, learners explore how polarizing sunglasses can help diminish road glare.
Make a Green Gumball Black
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In this optics activity, learners use a shoebox, colored cellophane and sunlight to "change" the colors of gumballs. Learners will be surprised when the green and blue gumballs appear black!
Shimmering Lenses
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In this activity, learners use Jell-O to explore lenses. Learners cut Jell-O into convex and concave lens shapes and examine how light exits each lens in a darkened room.
On the Fringe (formerly Bridge Light)
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In this activity, learners trap a thin layer of air between two pieces of Plexiglas to produce rainbow-colored interference patterns.
Turbidity
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This is an activity about turbidity, or the amount of sediment suspended in water.
The Old White Sheet Trick: Light and Insect Behavior
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In this outdoor, nighttime activity, learners gather around a brightly lit, white surface and study the behavior of nocturnal animals attracted to the light, particularly night fliers.
Tools of Magnification
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In this activity related to microbes, learners use water drops and hand lenses to begin the exploration of magnification. This activity also introduces learners to the microscope.
Blue Sky
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In this optics activity, learners explore why the sky is blue and the sunset is red, using a simple setup comprising a transparent plastic box, water, and powdered milk.
Benham's Disk
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In this optics activity, learners discover that when they rotate a special black and white pattern called a Benham's Disk, it produces the illusion of colored rings.