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Light
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To
view student web pages of Light related activities:
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This site is continually
being updated. To report broken links, or if you have relevant new sites that
you have found, send a brief email to: tannahills@si.edu
Light bibliography.
Myths about the Sun
and Light
Read about the
numerous myths and stories that exist about the sun and the light it
produces.
http://www.windows.umich.edu/cgi-bin/tour.cgi?link=/mythology/planets/
sun.html&sw=false&sn=0&art=ok&edu=mid&cdp=/windows3.html&cd
=false&tour=&fr=f&frp=/windows3.html
Shadows and Eclipses
Here, at the
Exploratorium you can try out some more experiments about shadows.
http://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/shadows
Experience artist Bob
Miller's "Light Walk" at the Exploratorium is always an eye-opening
experience for students and teachers alike. His unique discoveries will
change the way you look at light, shadow, and images.
http://www.exploratorium.edu/light_walk/lw_main.html
Contains information on
past and presents solar eclipses and why they occur.
http://www.kidseclipse.com/
Provides a tutorial on
the causes of eclipses.
http://www.earthview.com/tutorial/causes.htm
Sky and Telescopes extensive
page on eclipses. Includes lots of interesting photographs.
http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/eclipses/
NASA’s page on eclipses provides very
comprehensive resources on the topic, including calendars and a host of
additional links to eclipse sites.
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html
Space.com provides a
brief, east to understand, explanation of eclipses.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/eclipses-ez.html
The Speed of Light
This site
generally discusses Einstein but has a section specifically on the speed of
light.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/einstein/hotsciencelight/
Bioluminescence
General page on
bioluminescence and chemiluminescence have a good set of animals from the sea
that bioluminescence.
http://lifesci.ucsb.edu/~biolum/
Scripps Institution of
Oceanography's "Glow With the Flow" contains lots of information
and exciting photographs on this topic.
http://www.sio.ucsd.edu/explorations/biolum/
Northern Lights
Contains images and
information about the northern lights.
http://www.geo.mtu.edu/weather/aurora/
Lighthouses
Summary of lots
of info on lighthouses and lightships from USCG.
http://www.uscg.mil/history/h_lhindex.asp
PBS site on historic
lighthouses and lighthouse history. http://www.pbs.org/legendarylighthouses/
Gives one woman’s
view of life as the wife of a lighthouse keeper. Leads to additional sites about the
lighthouses at Apostle Island National Lakeshore in Wisconsin.
http://www.uscg.mil/history/uscghist/Women_Keepers.asp
Includes information on
the construction and history of the Old Point Loma Lighthouse in Cabrillo National Monument
in California.
http://www.nps.gov/cabr/lighthouse.html
History of Lighting
The overall
page from NMAH on the history of electric lighting.
http://americanhistory.si.edu/lighting/
Interesting web-site
collecting information on the history of lighting.
http://www.mts.net/~william5/history/hol.htm
Find out about the
history and invention of different types of lighting.
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bllight.htm
Edison
Has all kinds of
information on Thomas Edison including biographies written for students,
timelines, stories of his inventions and photographs of him, his inventions and
lots of other scientists.
http://www.nps.gov/edis/home.htm
A Host of Edison links
from About.com
http://history1900s.about.com/homework/history1900s/msub81.htm
The Electromagnetic
Spectrum
Click on the
appropriate part of an electromagnetic spectrum and discover more about the
nature and uses of different wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation.
http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/light/ems-frames.html
Find out about
wavelengths of light, types of light, how astronomers use different
wavelengths, and what they see!
http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/light/light_tour.html
Describes the
electromagnetic spectrum and how astronomers use it to discover the nature of
the universe.
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l2/multiwavelength.html
This is NASA's site on
infrared light and infrared astronomy.
http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/
Find out about the
discovery of infrared and the work of William Herschel at http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/classroom_activities/herschel_experiment.html
Read about Newton, his life and
experiments. Follow links to Snell and other important figures from the
science of optics. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/newton_isaac.shtml
What is light? What are
the properties of waves? Find out the answers to these and other questions at
Light Express.
http://www.lightexpress.soton.ac.uk/index.php?indx=oracle&pn=extra
Spectroscopy
Describes how
to make you own spectroscope and how it works.
http://www.exploratorium.edu/spectra_from_space/visible_activity.html
Observe different
spectra derived from sunlight, fluorescent light and a red LED.
http://mo-www.harvard.edu/Java/MiniSpectroscopy.html
Color
Big web-site on
color including color and the brain, color and the body, color and vision,
color and design, color and science, color and the world, color and computers…
http://www.colormatters.com/entercolormatters.html
This site discusses why
the sky is blue and has some activities too.
http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html
Explains how rainbows
are formed.
http://eo.ucar.edu/rainbows/
Provides a mathematical
explanation of, and lab on, the formation of rainbows.
http://www.geom.umn.edu/education/calc-init/rainbow
See examples of additive
and subtractive color mixing at
http://www.yorku.ca/eye/colormix.htm
X-rays
Read about the
Chandra x-ray telescope. Follow the links to view the Universe with x-ray
vision.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/main/index.html
Read about Roentgen,
who won the first Nobel prize in physics for his work with x-rays.
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761555545/Roentgen.html
Solar Power
Solar energy
information from the Department of Energy. http://www.doe.gov/energysources/solar.htm
Reflection and
Mirrors
Watch simple
animation of rays as they reflect off plane and curved mirrors at different
angles of incidence.
http://www.kettering.edu/~drussell/Demos/RayTrace/Mirrors.html
Ripple Tanks
Use this virtual ripple
tank to perform different experiments with this model of light.
http://www.falstad.com/ripple/
Submarines/Periscopes
Virtual tour
and history of a German U-boat captured in World War II. From the Museum of Science
and Industry in Chicago.
http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/u-505/
Refraction
Try out a
virtual version of the experiment with the semi-circular block.
http://www.physics.lsa.umich.edu/demolab/6z2explist.htm
Provides a detailed
description of refraction, perhaps more useful to the teacher than a student.
http://www.play-hookey.com/optics/refract1.html
Alter the angle of
incidence and refractive indices of the transparent substances in this
simultation of refraction.
http://www.sciencejoywagon.com/physicszone/
Lenses
Here you can
use a simulation to adjust the focal length and position of an object in
relation to a convex lens. Observe what happens to the image.
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/lightandcolor/javalens.html
In this animation you
can alter the position of an object in relation to convex and concave lenses.
http://www.kettering.edu/~drussell/Demos/RayTrace/Lenses.html
Telescopes
Provides
information on the early development of the Telescope
http://galileo.rice.edu/sci/instruments/telescope.html
Go to "How Stuff
Works" to find a mass of information on telescope history, construction,
and optics.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/telescope.htm
Hubble Space
Telescope
Shows some of
the best pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope
http://www.seds.org/hst/hst.html
Provides more
information on the Hubble Space Telescope and some of its discoveries.
http://amazing-space.stsci.edu
Where is the Hubble
Telescope now? Use this web site to track its exact position.
http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/RealTime/Jtrack/welcome.html
Microscopes
A short history
of the development of the microscope.
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/physics/microscopes/1.html
Photography
(History)
Here you can
view some of the best photographs by Ansell Adams, Americas most famous landscape
photographer.
http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/adams
Contains information of
Matthew Brady, a Civil War photographer. Includes an account of the process
he had to go through to make a photo.
http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/brady/bradcont.html
Overview of 100 years
of photography in America.
http://www.pbs.org/ktca/americanphotography/
Read about the history
of photography and explore exhibits at the American Museum
of Photography.
http://www.photographymuseum.com
Photography Techniques
Use these pages
from Photo.net to read about how light and lighting effects are used in
photography.
http://www.photo.net/photo/tutorial/light.html
The Kodak web site
provides comprehensive resources on all aspects of photography. For a
photography tutorial check out
http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=11808&pq-locale=en_US&_requestid=7745
and
http://www.kodak.com
Here you can discover
how forensic scientists use photography to record evidence at a crime scene.
http://www.crime-scene-investigator.net/csi-photo.html
Digital Photography
and TV
This is Kodak’s
web site on digital photography. How it works and how to do it.
http://digitalcameras.kodak.com/
Vision
Here you can
find out how the human eye works and try out a few experiments on vision.
http://www.accessexcellence.org/AE/AEC/CC/vision_background.html
A complete online book
about vision and perception.
http://www.yorku.ca/eye/thejoy.htm
This is a really
exciting about all the senses, with an excellent section on the sense of
vision.
http://www.hhmi.org/senses
Have some fun with
these sensation and perception tutorials.
http://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/sen_tut.html
Students will find text
of this site about the retina and photoreception is very difficult to follow
but there are some great photomicrographs.
http://webvision.med.utah.edu
Optical Illusions
On this site
you can view some of the optical illusions created by the artist Maurits C.
Escher, a master of optical illusions, and others.
http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/o/opticalillusion.html
For more information on
Escher try http://www.mcescher.com/
Have fun with optical illusions
at
http://www.optillusions.com/
Find
some interesting examples of optical illusions at
http://www.eyetricks.com/illusions.htm
Animal Vision
Shows images
through the eyes of a honey bee and includes some explanation of these
images.
http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/ic/vision/bee-vision.html
Provides a view of the
world through some animal eyes. (What does a diver look like to a shark
hmmm?)
http://www.pigeon.psy.tufts.edu/psych26/umvelt.htm
Find out about night
vision and animal eyes in the Kalahari Desert.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/kalahari/nightvision.html
Lasers and Fiber
Optics
Main page for a
list of twenty great achievements of the 20th century. Leads to
discussion of lasers and fiber optics and one on imaging. Copyright indicates
the National Academy of Engineering.
http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=2966
Here you can find out
why your phone calls don’t leak out of optical fibers.
http://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/critical_angle/index.html
Read a short history of
fiber optics at
http://www.sff.net/people/Jeff.Hecht/history.html
Find timelines on
optics at
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/
and
http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa980407.htm
Famous Scientists
Einstein
Provides biographical information on Albert Einstein
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/einstein/
Galileo
Provides
information on the life and times of Galileo
http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo
Newton
A web site with
information on the most famous physicist of all.
http://www.newton.cam.ac.uk/newtlife.html
Read about Newton, his life and
experiments. Follow links to Snell and other important figures from the
science of optics.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/newton_isaac.shtml
General
Consists a
series of slides which provide a synopsis of the optics and the
electromagnetic spectrum.
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/light/spectrum.html
Here you can find out
more about light and how it is used in astronomy.
http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/light
Contains a variety of
"movies" geared toward students on science, health and technology
subjects.
http://www.brainpop.com/
This site has
activities to do related to light.
http://www.miamisci.org/af/sln/dracula/
Use the "The How Things
Work Website" to find out about what makes things like fluoresecent
tubes and light bulbs tick. You can also ask general physics questions as
well.
http://rabi.phys.virginia.edu/HTW//
This site provides
extensive information on the nature of light and the history of optics.
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/index.html
History of Optics
(General)
Provides a short
biography of Joseph Swan, an early pioneer of electric lighting.
http://146.201.224.61/optics/timeline/people/swan.html
Provides information on
the development of the arc lamp.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_lamp
An easy to read and
much abbreviated history of optics may be found at
http://www.hometown.aol.com/WSRNet/D1/hist.htm
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