Learning In The Light

We are coming near the end of our study of Light and look forward to investigating Sound in the next few months.   So far we have learned that light is energy that we can see and there are two types of light: natural (sun, northern lights, lightning, etc.) and artificial (light bulbs, TV, street lamps, etc.).   Through various activities we came to understand that light travels in straight lines and behaves in different ways in different materials.  Light can be absorbed, reflected, or transmitted depending on whether or not an object is transparent, translucent, or opaque.   Talk to your children about these terms and listen to what they are able to tell you.  I believe you will be surprised with their knowledge!

This afternoon we capitalized on the beautiful sunshine we had and went outside to examine what colours could be seen in bubbles.

As we observed the bubbles, we could see the colours of the rainbow - RED - ORANGE - YELLOW - GREEN - BLUE - INDIGO - VIOLET (although some scientists do not include indigo).   With some explanation, the students were able to understand why we saw rainbows in the bubbles.   When the "white light" from the sun strikes the surface of the bubble, it is refracted and the light is split into the various colours of the rainbow.   This is the same reason why we see rainbows when we shine a light on the back of a CD.