How does a one-way mirror work? Though most everyone knows that one-way mirrors exist, having students model how they work turns out to be a very effective way to develop their thinking about how visible light travels and how we see...

This tutorial explains light absorption, reflection and transmission in a clear and concise manner. Provides a "Check Your Understanding" section as well as additional links on color and light.

In a hands-on way, students explore light's properties of absorption, reflection, transmission and refraction through various experimental stations within the classroom. To understand absorption, reflection and transmission, they shine...

In this physics classroom, students learn how and why light of certain frequencies can be selectively absorbed, reflected or transmitted.

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] How visible light interacts with matter and classifying matter in terms of light.

Manipulate the incident angle, color of light, wavelength, and medium to see how the refracted angle is affected.

This is the first instructional activity of this unit to introduce light. In this instructional activity, students learn the five words that describe how light interacts with objects: "transparent," "translucent," "opaque," "reflection"...

Young scholars learn the basic properties of light--the concepts of light absorption, transmission, reflection and refraction, as well as the behavior of light during interference. Lecture information briefly addresses the...

Students determine the refractive index of a liquid with a simple technique using a semi-circular hollow block. Then they predict the refractive index of a material (a Pyrex glass tube) by matching it with the known refractive index of a...

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Students understand the meaning of polarization and its mechanism and polarization by transmission and reflection.

A description of the three different types of microscopy: light, transmission electron, and scanning electron

This high school resource shows how the blue of the skies and the red of the sunsets can be explained by the interaction of sunlight with atmospheric particles which causes scattering of light.

Inventor Nikola Tesla is the subject of this extensive PBS site. In addition to information on Tesla's life and work, the site offers insight into the ways in which society and invention affect each other.

"How Do We Know Light Behaves as a Wave?" An answer is provided in this discussion of the polarization of light and the use of Polaroid filters in sunglasses. The four methods discussed on this page are: polarization by transmission,...

A lesson plan about Alexander Graham Bell's patent for the telephone and Thomas Edison's patent for the electric lamp. Contains good background information and historically pertinent documents. It also discusses the role corporations...

[Free Registration/Login Required] This flipchart is an introduction lesson on light. It explains absorption, transmission, and reflection. It contains real pictures that allow students to see how matter in an object determines how much...

Science Buddies profiles careers you perhaps never even considered. Do you know what a power distributor and dispatcher does? Someone has to control the flow of electricity along the transmission lines to be sure nothing takes the power...

A series of pages that explain polarization, polarized light and its effects, polarized filters, and sunglasses. Interactive Java applets.

An incredible series of illustrated pages that explain polarization, polarized light and its effects, and polarized filters and sunglasses. Features interactive Java applets.

This site has numerous pictures of microscopic images. It also has a search engine so you can find specific objects. Images were captured with light microscopes, as well as electron microscopes.

Get an overview of light microscopes, scanning electron microscopes and transmission electron microscopes. There is also a brief description of sizes for several microscopic objects.

Using a question and answer format, this page attempts to answer the question "How much light do sunglasses block?" Explains polarized light and the ability of filters to selectively absorb polarized light.

From an online "book," this particular page describes physics principles related to vision and sight. Keywords are linked to other pages with further information. The role of sunglasses in blocking glare is discussed and explained. A...

Several short descriptions of demonstrations pertaining to polarization principles. Suitable as a supplement for a teacher lesson plan or as an idea-generator for a student project.