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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.

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.
The Bent Pencil
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In this optics activity, learners explore how light bends and affects what we see.

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

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.

Eye Spy
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This fun activity uses simple materials such as milk cartons and mirrors to introduce the ideas of optics and visual perception.

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.

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

Glass and Mirrors: An Inside Look at Telescopes
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This hands-on astronomy activity allows you to create a “cutaway” telescope to clearly show how reflector and refractor telescopes work.

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

Hot Air
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In this activity, learners set up an experiment to investigate the effects of hot air on the path of a laser beam.

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.