April 27, 2013
March 6, 2013
December 21, 2012
October 28, 2012
October 21, 2012
October 20, 2012
Light and Color: Making Sunsets
In today’s lesson, students replicated the scattering of small particles in the earth’s atmosphere using a tank of water, whole milk, and a flashlight. Students added 1 cup of whole milk to the water in their tanks and shined their light into murky liquid. The light collided with and bounced off of the molecules from the milk (the protein and fat droplets), which is similar to the various gases and dust that are in the atmosphere. For extra fun, we switched from an incandescent light to an LED light and were surprised to get a green light result! We all agreed that a green sunset would be weird!
7 months ago • 0 notes
Science and Art Connection - Shadow Sculptures:
Earlier this week London-based duo Tim Noble and Sue Webster opened their first solo show since 2006 at Blain|Southern in London. Titled Nihilistic Optimistic, the exhibition includes six large-scale sculptures built from what appear to be haphazard clumps of discarded wood but when illuminated by a light projector create uncannily accurate self-portraits of the artists.
To see more of their shadow art, go here:
7 months ago • 0 notes
October 12, 2012
White Light and Colored Light: Shadows
In this class, we began by studying shadows that we created using a single white light source. Once we were comfortable with the results, a second white light source was added and we noticed the changes to the shadows. Next, we repeated the process using single colored lights (red blue and green - primary light colors). After that, we projected combinations of two colored light sources on a pen and recorded the number of shadows, color of shadows, and color of the wall that resulted from our color combinations. Finally, we had fun using spotlights to make shadows of each other!
7 months ago • 0 notes
October 6, 2012
Light and Color: Benham’s Disk
We had fun making our own Benham’s Disk. When you rotate this black-and-white pattern at the right speed, the pattern appears to contain colored rings.
Why? When you gaze at one place on the spinning disk, you are looking at alternating flashes of black and white. You see color because the different color receptors in your eyes respond at different rates. When a white flash goes by, all three types of cones respond. But your eyes and brain see the color white only when all three types of cones are responding equally. The fact that some types of cones respond more quickly than others — and that some types of cones keep responding longer than others — leads to an imbalance that partly explains why you see colors.
7 months ago • 0 notesLight and Color: Polarizing Filters
We learned that when two polarizing filters are placed atop one another, they can be transparent or opaque to light. By rotating one of the filters, the transmitted light passing through the filters may be turned ‘on’ or ‘off’. When the filters do not transmit light, the polarizing filters are said to be ‘crossed polarizers’.
7 months ago • 0 notesLight and Color: More with Polarizing Filters
In this class, we used cellophane tape to bend light. We overlapped strips of tape between two polarizing filters and then rotated the filter on top to create brilliant optical effects.
Light and Color: Building a Spectroscope
In this class, we used a cardboard tube, large round stickers, and a piece of diffraction grating to make a spectroscope - a device that breaks up light into a spectrum of colors.
7 months ago • 0 notes
September 25, 2012
Color and Light: Secret Messages and Pictures!
In this session, students learned how color filters work. As a result, they formulated rules for making secret messages and pictures using a red filter. Beautiful!
7 months ago • 0 notes
September 20, 2012
Light and Color: Mixing Colors of Light to Make White Light
Mixing colors of light is different than mixing paint. With the correct formula, you can mix red, green and blue to create white light! You can also make some pretty pictures on the clean-up towels.
8 months ago • 0 notes