Light Science Activities
J. Adam Scribner
Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education
Why is the Sky Blue?
• Is it always blue?
• Is water always blue?
Let’s Investigate Light
• Use a prism and investigate light
(using sun light or a flashlight)
• Now model what you see…
• Share
What causes a prism to reveal a
color spectrum from white light?
Answer: Refraction
What is the Visible Spectrum?
Now let’s try using
diffraction glasses…
DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN!
Is the color spectrum produced by
different light sources the same?
What causes diffraction?
• When light passes through
transparent matter that is thicker
than air, it bends!
Hmmm…
• An observant student might ask -- I see how
light can produce colors now, but where does
white light come from?
• The answer is that it comes from all the colors.
When you take all the colors and combine
them then you will get white.
Let’s see if that works…
• Use a Newtonian Color Wheel…
• Now model what you see…
• Share
Newton’s Color Wheel
So why is all of this important?