Optics
Thirteen demos of how light behaves. Move the light, the mirrors and the lenses, and watch what happens.
Mirrors
Law of Reflection
Shine a torch at a mirror from any angle: the light always leaves at the same angle it came in.
Concave Mirror
A mirror curved like the bowl of a spoon. It can show you small and upside down, or upright and bigger.
Convex Mirror
A mirror that bulges out, like the one on a sharp corner of the road: its image is always small and upright.
Kaleidoscope
Two, three or four mirrors turn one small piece of a pattern into a whole circle of copies.
Bending light
Refraction
Light bends as it goes from air into water, glass or diamond, and sometimes it can’t get out again.
Refraction Through a Slab
Light bends into a slab and back out again, going the same way as before, but shifted to one side.
Total Internal Reflection
Bend a glass rod or a stream of water and watch light stay trapped inside it, the way optical fibres carry the internet.
Lenses
Cameras
Colors
Try optics for real at Science Playground: mirrors, lenses, a kaleidoscope, a single-lens camera and more. See the exhibits or book a visit.