WAVES. LIGHT & COLOR SCIENCE MODULE
PURPOSE
To show how light can be explained as a wave.
MATERIALS
• CDs (new uncolored CDs work best but almost any old CD will do)
SETUP
Hold CD up to a light as you move back and forth you can see the light being broken up. Sunlight or a projector will allow you to show the colors on the wall. Rainbow is breaking light up into it’s colors. When you use the CD on a street light you will only see one color (green or orange) because streetlights do not put out white (a mix of colors).
METHOD
Make a small stripe across the middle of the filter paper. Place one end of the paper in the cup. As the water soaks up the strip across the mark the various chemicals in the ink move at different speeds and are separated out. After a few moments remove the paper and let it dry. Try again with other colors.
DISCUSSION
White light is made up of all colors. These colors can be separated by prisms or diffraction gratings. Diffraction gratings are a bunch of thin lines very close together A CD can work as a grating (thin lines)
- White light is made up of all colors
- These colors can be separated by prisms or diffraction gratings
- Diffraction gratings are a bunch of thin lines very close together
- A CD can work as a grating (thin lines)
