Search Results

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.

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

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.

In this activity, learners explore how and why rainbows form by creating rainbows in a variety of ways using simple materials. Learners create rainbows indoors and outdoors.

In this activity (posted on March 12, 2011), learners follow the steps to construct a spectroscope, a tool used to analyze light and color.

In this activity, learners examine how colored lenses act like filters and absorb all colors of light except for the color of the lenses.

In this optics/mathematics activity, learners use two hinged mirrors to create a kaleidoscope that shows multiple images of an object.

In this activity (posted on March 14, 2011), learners follow the steps to construct a camera projector to explore lenses and refraction.

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

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

In this activity about light and reflection, learners discover that what you see is often affected by what you expect to see.

If you had a long tube with a 5 millimeter wide slit, would you see the entire Golden Gate Bridge?

In this optics activity, learners discover how they can make glass objects "disappear." Learners submerge glass objects like stirring rods into a beaker of Wesson™ oil to explore how the principles of

In this activity about light and refraction, learners discover how a lens creates an image that hangs in midair.

In this optics activity, learners explore how they can make gelatin stop light, but not stop them from seeing fruit suspended within.

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.

In this lab (Activity #1 on page), learners explore how we see color.

In this trick, hold your hand over a burning candle without getting burned, by reflecting and transmitting the light of two candles. This activity is best suited as a demonstration.

In this optics activity, learners explore diffraction by adding wax blocks to a ripple tank. The wedge-shaped blocks act as obstacles that the wave must bend around.