A great and easy-to-do activity where students separate the colors in a black marker and develop an understanding that black is a composite of other colors.

Explains where visible light fits into the electromagnetic spectrum and the wavelengths for the different colors we see.

Several pages from an excellent site which describe the science of spectroscopy. The unique atomic emission (and absorption) line spectrum of elements are illustrated and explained. Includes a Java applet depicting the quantum energy...

This instructional activity contains the following labs: Rainbows, Refraction with Prisms, and What Color Is It? Students will study light by reading various nonfiction texts and viewing a video instructional activity. Then students will...

The Discovery Channel provides numerous lesson plans dealing with the physical sciences. Content is organized by grade level, but all lesson plans include suggestions for adaptations for older or younger audiences.

A simple activity to demonstrate how light separates into colors when it passes through water acting as a prism.

This site from the University Corporation of Atmospheric Research provides an illustrated article about the phenomenon of rainbows.

Students find and calculate the angle that light is transmitted through a holographic diffraction grating using trigonometry. After finding this angle, student teams design and build their own spectrographs, researching and designing a...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Neon lights are a type of discharge tube. Observe how electrons create colored light in a hydrogen gas discharge tube. Can you figure out why hydrogen's emission spectrum contains more than one color of...

Resource provides the ten signs that tell when a chemical change has occured. Each sign has a detailed explanation.

Lucianne Walkowicz shows us the waves just beyond our perception: microwaves, radio waves, x-rays and more. [5:58]