Search Results

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.

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.

In this experiment, learners work in teams to investigate how the color of a surface influences its ability to reflect light and therefore heat.

In this activity, learners use an old CD to construct a spectroscope, a device that separates light into its component colors.

Learners demonstrate how water can distort, refract and magnify light.

In this activity, learners explore how nanosized structures can create brilliant color.

In this activity related to nanotechnology, learners observe some of the effects that result from creating a thin layer of material several nanometers thick.

This is a quick activity (on page 2 of the PDF under Butterfly Wings Activity) that illustrates how nanoscale structures, so small they're practically invisible, can produce visible/colorful effects.

In this activity, learners experiment with shadows and light sources to understand the relationship between the angle illumination and the shadow's length.

In this activity, learners will make their own prism and use a glass of water to separate sunlight into different colors.

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.

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.

Align four color transparencies, each one a single color (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black), and see a beautiful full color image.

In this activity, learners explore why the sky is blue. Learners model the scattering of light by the atmosphere, which creates the blue sky and red sunset, using a flashlight and clear glue sticks.

In this optics activity, learners experiment with polarizers (small dark rectangles) to examine light intensity.

In this chemistry lab activity, learners model the colors of fireworks by burning metallic solutions in a flame and observing the different colors produced.

In this optics activity, learners explore color by examining color dots through colored water and the light of a flashlight.

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

In this four-part activity, learners will discover the exciting world of light--the most important form of energy in our world--and be able to identify and describe different types of light.

In this activity, learners explore why they can see colors in bubbles and why they change.