Laboratory Title: The Color of Light Lab
Your Name: Kristen Halls
Concepts Addressed: Physics: The Properties of Light
Lab Goals: For students to gain better understanding of the color of light
Lab Objectives: Students will
§ Learn the primary colors of light – green, red and blue
§ Learn what colors are created when different colors of light are mixed
§ Understand that we see an object in a certain color because the object reflects that color, while other colors are absorbed
Benchmark(s) Addressed:
4.1 Structure and Function: Living and non-living things can be classified by their characteristics and properties.
· 4.1P.1 Describe the properties of forms of energy and how objects vary in the extent to which they absorb, reflect, and conduct energy.
6.1 Structure and Function: Living and non-living systems are organized groups of related parts that function together and have characteristics and properties.
· 6.1P.2 Compare and contrast the characteristic properties of forms of energy.
6.2 Interaction and Change: The related parts within a system interact and change.
· 6.2P.1 Describe and compare types and properties of waves and explain how they interact with matter.
8.2 Interaction and Change: Systems interact with other systems.
· 8.2P.2 Explain how energy is transferred, transformed, and conserved.
Materials and Costs:
List the equipment and non-consumable material and estimated cost of each
Flashlights ($2.12 each x 10) $21.20
http://www.buyonlinenow.com/viewitemsAct.asp?classlabel=KAAA&manufactlabel=1700091&SKU=DURPCECONB&gb=1
Red cellophane ($2.94 per 20 ft roll) $2.94
http://www.discountofficeitems.com/cellophane-wrap-1212ft-roll-red-pac73110-office-products-53443.html
Blue cellophane ($3.08 per 20 ft roll $3.08
http://www.discountofficeitems.com/cellophane-wrap-1212ft-roll-blue-pac73150-office-products-53447.html
Green cellophane ($3.04 per 20 ft roll) $3.04
http://www.discountofficeitems.com/cellophane-wrap-1212ft-roll-green-pac73140-office-products-53446.html
White index cards ($1.19 per pack of 100) $1.19
http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/p1_Oxford-3-x-5-Unruled-White-Index-Cards_17900_Business_Supplies_10051_SEARCH
White ping pong balls ($1.23 per pack of 6 x 2) $2.46
http://www.dollarnights.com/i345367-wholesale-6-pack-table-tennis-ping-pong-balls.html
Estimated total, one-time, start-up cost: $33.91
List the consumable supplies and estimated cost for presenting to a class of 30 students
Tape ($1.30 x 10) $13.00
http://www.office-supplies.us.com/scotch_105_magic_tape_with_dispenser_tape_dispenser_replacement_cores_11965082_prd1.htm
Estimated total, one-time, start-up cost: $13.00
Time:
Preparation time: ~1 hour to purchase and set up materials
Instruction time: 15 minutes for background info lecture, 15 minutes for lab
Clean-up time: 10 minutes
Assessment (include all assessment materials):
-Quiz Question-
What are the primary colors of light?
Have students paint the color wheel of light using acrylic paints and white poster board. Print out a large poster of the following image to hang on the board or copy individual handouts for the students.
http://www.d.umn.edu/~mharvey/colorwheel.jpg
After the paint has dried, have student write a small paragraph on the back of the poster board reflecting on creating this color wheel. Was it difficult to make the color without being able to always mix the primary colors to create the secondary colors? How is this wheel different from the color wheel we make for art class?
Laboratory Title: Sky in a Jar
Your Name: Kristen Halls
Concepts Addressed: Physics: The Properties of Light, Astronomy: Sunlight, Meteorology: Atmosphere
Lab Goals: For students to gain better understanding of why the sky appears to be different colors at different times of the day
Lab Objectives: Students will
· Understand how colors vary in frequency and wave length
· Understand how this variance determine how much they will scatter when they collide with oxygen and nitrogen in the Earth’s atmosphere
· Understand how the distance traveled by the rays through the atmosphere affects the appearance of the sunlight in the sky
Benchmark(s) Addressed:
K.1 Structure and Function: The natural world includes living and non-living things.
· K.1E.1 Gather evidence that the sun warms land, air, and water.
K.2 Interaction and Change: Living and non-living things move.
· K.2E.1 Identify changes in things seen in the sky.
1.1 Structure and Function: Living and non-living things have characteristics and properties.
· 1.1E.1 Examine characteristics and physical properties of Earth materials.
2.2 Interaction and Change: Living and non-living things change.
· 2.2E.1 Observe and record the patterns of apparent movement of the sun and the moon.
4.1 Structure and Function: Living and non-living things can be classified by their characteristics and properties.
· 4.1P.1 Describe the properties of forms of energy and how objects vary in the extent to which they absorb, reflect, and conduct energy.
5.1 Structure and Function: Living and non-living things are composed of related parts that function together to form systems.
· 5.1E.1 Describe the Sun-Earth-Moon system.
5.2 Interaction and Change: Force, energy, matter, and organisms interact within living and non- living systems.
· 5.2E.1 Explain how the energy from the sun affects Earth’s weather and climate.
6.1 Structure and Function: Living and non-living systems are organized groups of related parts that function together and have characteristics and properties.
· 6.1E.2 Describe the properties of objects in the solar system. Describe and compare the position of the sun within the solar system, galaxy, and universe.
6.2 Interaction and Change: The related parts within a system interact and change.
· 6.2P.1 Describe and compare types and properties of waves and explain how they interact with matter.
7.2 Interaction and Change: The components and processes within a system interact.
· 7.2E.2 Describe the composition of Earth’s atmosphere, how it has changed over time, and implications for the future.
8.1 Structure and Function: Systems and their components function at various levels of complexity.
· 8.1P.3 Explain how the motion and spacing of particles determines states of matter.
H.1 Structure and Function: A system’s characteristics, form, and function are attributed to the quantity, type, and nature of its components.
· H.1E.2 Describe the structure and composition of Earth’s atmosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere.
H.2 Interaction and Change: The components in a system can interact in dynamic ways that may result in change. In systems, changes occur with a flow of energy and/or transfer of matter.
· H.2E.1 Identify and predict the effect of energy sources, physical forces, and transfer processes that occur in the Earth system. Describe how matter and energy are cycled between system components over time.
· H.2E.2 Explain how Earth’s atmosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere change over time and at varying rates. Explain techniques used to elucidate the history of events on Earth.
· H.2E.4 Evaluate the impact of human activities on environmental quality and the sustainability of Earth systems. Describe how environmental factors influence resource management.
Materials and Costs:
List the equipment and non-consumable material and estimated cost of each
Drinking glass ($7.99 per 6 pack x 2) $15.98
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20092107
Teaspoon ($1.49x3) $4.47
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10083269
Flashlights ($2.12 each x 10) $21.20
http://www.buyonlinenow.com/viewitemsAct.asp?classlabel=KAAA&manufactlabel=1700091&SKU=DURPCECONB&gb=1
Estimated total, one-time, start-up cost: $41.65
List the consumable supplies and estimated cost for presenting to a class of 30 students
Milk (1 pint) $0.99
Water (Free from tap) $ 0.00
Estimated total, one-time, start-up cost: $0.99
Time:
Preparation time: ~1 hour to purchase and set up materials
Instruction time: 15 minutes for lecture, 10 for lab
Clean-up time: 10 minutes
Assessment (include all assessment materials):
Have students read the comic strip below and answer the following questions.
http://everwhat.wikispaces.com/file/view/Sun_Set-Calvin_&_Hobbes.gif
1.) What is funny about this comic?
2.) What are some things that the dad says that are not true?
3.) What are the real answers for these questions the boy asks?
Physics of Light: Lesson Plan
Written by Kristen Halls
Background Information
Light is electromagnetic radiation, particularly radiation of a wavelength that is visible to the human eye (about 400–700 nm), or perhaps 380–750 nm.
To understand light waves, it helps to start by discussing a more familiar kind of wave -- the one we see in the water. One key point to keep in mind about the water wave is that it is not made up of water: The wave is made up of energy traveling through the water. If a wave moves across a pool from left to right, this does not mean that the water on the left side of the pool is moving to the right side of the pool. The water has actually stayed about where it was. It is the wave that has moved. When you move your hand through a filled bathtub, you make a wave, because you are putting your energy into the water. The energy travels through the water in the form of the wave.
All waves are traveling energy, and they are usually moving through some medium, such as water. A water wave consists of water molecules that vibrate up and down at right angles to the direction of motion of the wave. This type of wave is called a transverse wave.
Light waves are a little more complicated, and they do not need a medium to travel through. They can travel through a vacuum. A light wave consists of energy in the form of electric and magnetic fields. The fields vibrate at right angles to the direction of movement of the wave, and at right angles to each other. Because light has both electric and magnetic fields, it is also referred to as electromagnetic radiation.
Light waves come in many sizes. The size of a wave is measured as its wavelength, which is the distance between any two corresponding points on successive waves, usually peak-to-peak or trough-to-trough. The wavelengths of the light we can see range from 400 to 700 billionths of a meter. But the full range of wavelengths included in the definition of electromagnetic radiation extends from one billionth of a meter, as in gamma rays, to centimeters and meters, as in radio waves. Light is one small part of the spectrum.
Light waves also come in many frequencies. The frequency is the number of waves that pass a point in space during any time interval, usually one second. It is measured in units of cycles (waves) per second, or Hertz (Hz). The frequency of visible light is referred to as color, and ranges from 430 trillion Hz, seen as red, to 750 trillion Hz, seen as violet. Again, the full range of frequencies extends beyond the visible spectrum, from less than one billion Hz, as in radio waves, to greater than 3 billion billion Hz, as in gamma rays.
As noted above, light waves are waves of energy. The amount of energy in a light wave is proportionally related to its frequency: High frequency light has high energy; low frequency light has low energy. Thus gamma rays have the most energy, and radio waves have the least. Of visible light, violet has the most energy and red the least.
Light not only vibrates at different frequencies, it also travels at different speeds. Light waves move through a vacuum at their maximum speed, 300,000 kilometers per second or 186,000 miles per second, which makes light the fastest phenomenon in the universe. Light waves slow down when they travel inside substances, such as air, water, glass or a diamond. The way different substances affect the speed at which light travels is key to understanding the bending of light, or refraction.
Visible light is light that can be perceived by the human eye. When you look at the visible light of the sun, it appears to be colorless, which we call white. And although we can see this light, white is not considered to be part of the visible spectrum. This is because white light is not the light of a single color, or frequency. Instead, it is made up of many color frequencies. When sunlight passes through a glass of water to land on a wall, we see a rainbow on the wall. This would not happen unless white light were a mixture of all of the colors of the visible spectrum. Isaac Newton was the first person to demonstrate this. Newton passed sunlight through a glass prism to separate the colors into a rainbow spectrum. He then passed sunlight through a second glass prism and combined the two rainbows. The combination produced white light. This proved conclusively that white light is a mixture of colors, or a mixture of light of different frequencies. The combination of every color in the visible spectrum produces a light that is colorless, or white.
When analyzing why the sky appears blue, the first thing to recognize is that the sun is an extremely bright source of light -- much brighter than the moon. The second thing to recognize is that the atoms of nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere have an effect on the sunlight that passes through them.
http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html
There is a physical phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering that causes light to scatter when it passes through particles that have a diameter one-tenth that of the wavelength (color) of the light. Sunlight is made up of all different colors of light, but because of the elements in the atmosphere the color blue is scattered much more efficiently than the other colors.
When you look at the sky on a clear day, you can see the sun as a bright disk. The blueness you see everywhere else is all of the atoms in the atmosphere scattering blue light toward you. Because red light, yellow light, green light and the other colors aren't scattered nearly as well, you see the sky as blue.
As the sun begins to set, the light must travel farther through the atmosphere before it gets to you. More of the light is reflected and scattered. As less reaches you directly, the sun appears less bright. The color of the sun itself appears to change, first to orange and then to red. This is because even more of the short wavelength blues and greens are now scattered. Only the longer wavelengths are left in the direct beam that reaches your eyes.
http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html
The sky around the setting sun may take on many colors. The most spectacular shows occur when the air contains many small particles of dust or water. These particles reflect light in all directions. Then, as some of the light heads towards you, different amounts of the shorter wavelength colors are scattered out. You see the longer wavelengths, and the sky appears red, pink or orange.