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Physics in a Glass: Reversing Arrows
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In this simple activity, learners investigate refraction by placing a picture of an arrow behind a glass of water.

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 Sphere Lens
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In this activity about light and refraction, learners make a lens and magnifying glass by filling a bowl with water.

Introduction to the New Chain Gang
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In this activity, learners use pop-beads to understand the characteristics and properties of polymer chains.
The Bent Pencil
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In this optics activity, learners explore how light bends and affects what we see.

Vanishing Rods
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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.

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.

Lose a Glass in a Glass
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In this optics activity, learners use paint thinner to make a small jar seem to disappear inside a larger jar.

See the Light
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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.

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

Disappearing Glass Rods
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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

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

Mirror, Mirror
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In this activity, learners test the Law of Reflection based on experimental evidence. Learners produce raw data and explanations based on their data: pencil tracings of incident and reflection rays.
Glowing Tonic
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In this sunny day activity, learners compare how a cup of water and a cup of tonic water reflect or refract light in the sun.

Make Money Appear Before Your Eyes
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In this optics activity, learners use water to make a coin "appear" and "disappear." Use this activity to demonstrate how light refracts and introduce light as waves.

Release the Rainbow
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In this activity, learners create a water prism to break light into the seven colors of the rainbow.
Guiding Light
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In this optics activity, learners use glass and water to demonstrate total internal reflection (TIR).

Accommodating Accommodation
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In this demonstration (18th on the page), learners conduct a simple test to explore how the cornea refracts light, which is further bent by the eye lens through a process known as accommodation.

Light and Sound
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In this four-part activity, learners explore light and sound through a variety of hands-on investigations.