Search Results

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.

In this optics activity, learners make a "light fountain" from a clear plastic bottle, flashlight, and other simple materials.

In "Exploring the Universe: Exoplanet Transits," participants simulate one of the methods scientists use to discover planets orbiting distant stars.

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 discover that when they rotate a special black and white pattern called a Benham's Disk, it produces the illusion of colored rings.

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.

In this activity, learners explore the relative efficiency of different bulbs, specifically incandescent vs. fluorescent.

In this activity, learners construct a device that allows them to view 2-D images in 3-D.

In this activity, learners build inexpensive kaleidoscopes using transparency paper and foil (instead of mirrors).

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.

In this activity, learners explore the invisible infrared radiation from an electric heater.

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.

In this optics activity, learners examine how a transparent material such as glass or water can actually reflect light better than any mirror.

In this activity (1st on the page), learners find their blind spot--the area on the retina without receptors that respond to light.

This is a quick activity (on page 2 of the PDF under Stained Glass Activity) about the "Tyndall effect," the scattering of visible light when it hits very small dispersed particles.

In this activity about light and perception, learners create pictures in thin air.

In this optics activity, learners create a ripple tank from household materials to study waves. Learners build the tank and then explore by making various types of waves.