Light

Did you know light can decrease visibility? Light pollution absolutely makes it more difficult to see stars. Scholars build a simple magnitude reader to determine the magnitude of stars. They use these data to estimate the impact of...

Your class might be surprised to learn that mirrors have been around since the first century AD! Young scientists explore reflection and refraction of light through a series of challenges. They use this knowledge to design their own...

The conversion of sound into light is a fascinating phenomenon that is a side effect of pistol and mantis shrimp stunning their prey. It is known as sonoluminescence, and it is thoroughly delineated in this fascinating little video. Add...

An illuminating activity demonstrates how interference of light waves creates a pattern. Using Plexiglas™ and construction paper, participants see rainbows appear as they twist or press against the plastic plates. After the activity, you...

Lights, shadows, action, and inquiry await your artistic scientists. They explore the way light travels, absorbs, reflects, and transmits through shadow play. They create folktale-inspired shadow puppets, explore the science of light,...

Different colors of the spectrum travel at different speeds through media, causing them to refract at different angles—which allows humans to see their colors. Through a simulation, pupils see how air, water, and other media bend light....

Four modules are a part of this stellar lesson plan. Space scientists view the electromagnetic spectrum, they generate waves on a computer screen in order to measure frequency and wavelength, discover how light is related to temperature,...

Any work with light, lenses, lasers, or mirrors is called optical engineering. Optical engineers bend and bounce light to make it useful for humans. Examples are telescopes, invisibility, nanomedicine, and solar energy. This...

We really only see objects that emit light, either on their own or by reflecting light from another source. Past misconceptions of light are illustrated, and current understandings of light illuminated. This could be used as an...

Does light affect molecules or does it go right through them? The simulation explores four different types of light: microwave, infrared, visible, and ultraviolet. Scholars alter the energy level of each as it is aimed at seven different...