Light

Reflection and Refraction

Using a ray box we can allow students to experiment with light and reflection and refraction.

In this activity we need:

• White paper
• Ray box
• Convex mirrors
• Concave mirrors
• transparent blocks
• Concave and convex lenses
• Dim lighting

With this activity we can have students trace the rays of light to see the impact of the shape of mirrors and lenses on reflection and refraction.

A video demo of a similar experiment can be found here.

 

 

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Reflection, Focal points, and Perfect images – Building a Kaleidoscope

Materials needed :

• Pringles can
• 2 plastic lids
• 3 rectangles of  Styrofoam
• Mylar paper
• Tape
• Beads or stickers

Cross curricular links: Geometry, mirrors, rotational images, focal points, reflection, perfect and imperfect images, and symmetry.

We used equilateral triangle – with 3 equal sized pieces of Styrofoam which we stuck Mylar paper on to and placed them within the Pringles tube. Then between the 2 lids we placed stickers and sequences. Then taped the sides. Puncturing a whole in the bottom of the can allowed us to see into the Kaleidoscope and then turn the lid to see the rotating image.

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Spectroscope – Light absorption, emission, spectrum

From a purchased kit  from Flinn Scientific.

Materials:

• Cardboard tube
• Construction paper with circle cut out of the center
• Construction paper with a line cut out of the center
• Holographic Paper
• Electricians Tape

Tape the square of holographic paper on the construction paper covering the circle hole (what you look through). Tape this to the card board tube. Align the flat construction paper. Do this by looking to the light, and rotating the construction paper sheet until you can see the spectrum.  Tape in place.

Have students look at different kinds of light sources to see how the spectrum changes. (Use sun glasses if looking to the sun!)