Exploring Refraction

When light passes through an object, it slows down a little. It also bends, or changes direction. When light bends we call this refraction.

A straw in a glass of water appears to be broken because of refraction. I looks like the pencil is broken because the light bouncing of the pencil refracts, or bends as it goes in to the water.


We also had fun playing with lenses.

A convex lens is shaped like this.

When you look at things through it they look bigger.

A concave lens is shaped like this.

When you look at things through it they look smaller.

Look at our funny faces through lenses.

2 Mirrors are better than 1

This week the Year 3 students made Kaleidoscopes. They learned how a kaleidoscope works and tried to explain it in their own words.

You need light to sine onto the blank piece of paper and then you can see how many little triangles there are. When I looked into the kaleidoscope I saw 7 of them. The beads can make a different pattern if you turn it. You need mirrors inside to reflect the pattern. (Rebecca, Year 3)

When you make the kaleidoscope move the beads inside it make a pattern because there are 2 mirrors inside of it. You have to have light and beads and also 2 mirrors. If you put your hand over the paper on top of the beads then it gets really dark. (Shadin, Year 3)

The mirrors help to reflect the beads. When you put your hand over the cellophane it becomes dark. When you turn it in different angles you get different shapes. (Dev, Year 3)