The Color of Light Here's a way to create your own rainbow and get a picture-perfect glimpse of the visible spectrum!
WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
scissors ~ 3x5in. index card ~ tape ~ tall drinking glass ~ water ~ 8x11in. sheet of white paper
DIRECTIONS:
1) Cut a 1x3in. rectangle from the center of the 3x5in. card.
2) Tape the card lengthwise to the glass so the opening is directly over the rim. The rim of the glass should be in the center of the opening.
3) Fill the glass to the rim with water and set it on a flat surface in front of a sunny window. Sunlight should shine through the glass via the hole in the card.
4) Place a sheet of white paper on the floor in front of the glass. A rainbow will appear on the paper as the sunlight shines through the water.
WHAT HAPPENED?
A beam of light is actually made up of seven colors that the brain perceives as one. Each color in the beam vibrates at a different speed. When sunlight passes through water, each of the colors in the light is slowed and bent to a differetnt extent. This produces a colorful arc known as a rainbow. The colors that vibrate faster are bent more than those that vibrate slower. Violet vibrates the fastest, so it is found on the inside of the arch. Red vibrates the slowest, so it is the outermost color.
WHICH IS WHICH? You might be surprised by the results of this experiment on the
sensitivity of human touch.
WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
three smalls bowls ~ very warm water ~ very cold water ~ water
at room temperature
DIRECTIONS:
1) Fill one bowl with very warm water, one with very cold water,
and the last with room temperature water.
2) Place one hand in the warm water and the other in cold water
for about 30 seconds.
3) Now put both hands in the room temperature water. The hand that
was in the warm water will feel like like it is in cold water, and
the hand that was in the cold water will feel like it is in warm
water.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Temperature is the measure of how hot or cold something is. The
human body is not always accurate when judging temperature.
In this experiment the feeling in each hand is influenced by the
temperature of the water that it was in originally.
