Rainbow Maker
Word of the day: rainbow
“White light has a secret. There's a rainbow hiding inside it.”
Grab
- a clear glass of water
- a flashlight or a sunny window
- white paper
- an old CD if you have one
Do
- Put the glass of water at the edge of a table in sunlight (or shine the flashlight through it).
- Hold the white paper on the floor where the light lands. Move it until a rainbow shows up.
- Tilt a CD under a light and look for colors.
- Name the colors in order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.
The big moment
A rainbow shows up on the floor.
Ask (guess first, then try)
- Where did the colors come from?
- Where have you seen a rainbow outside?
What's going on (for you)
White light is all the colors mixed. When light goes into water at an angle it bends, and each color bends a slightly different amount, so they spread apart. Raindrops do this to sunlight to make a rainbow in the sky.
If they want more
With the hose on a sunny day, spray a mist with the sun behind them and they can make their own rainbow.
Look it up
Wikipedia: Rainbow PhET simulation