Build a CD spinner and learn color combinations

Description:

See what colors combine to form other colors. Make a CD spinner to improve the testing, giving you a color combiner that can be reused with any color you want.

Equipment needed:

One CD that’s no longer needed (like a music CD, a “Free AOL CD”, or a blank computer CD)

Washable markers

A penny

A pliers

A gas flame (like from a gas stove, gas fireplace, or propane grill)

The Digital Bits Science Lab Experiment:

Hold the penny with the pliers. Heat the penny for thirty seconds over a gas flame. (A candle won’t work - it’s not hot enough.)

Hold the CD carefully, and use the pliers to gently push the penny into the CD’s center hole:

The penny will be hot and the CD will melt. Try to place the penny so it bisects the CD. Hold it there until the penny cools enough for the CD plastic to harden and hold it in place. (Blow on the penny, and this will take only another ten or twenty seconds.)

Now you’ve got something special: It’s a washable, CD spinner.

Get the washable markers and color the CD with a couple of colors. We’ll use red and blue in our example. Make sure to color so the whole of the CD is covered, and make sure your colors alternate frequently:

Now spin it!

You’ll see the red and blue will combine and form purple:

When you want to try different colors, it’s easy - the CD and washable markers come off just by rinsing:

Use this experiment to learn about colors and color combinations. And have fun spinning.

Other articles related to this topic:

• Learn colors and color combinations with food coloring
• Color mixing with plastic tiles
• Learn about colors, color combinations and chemical reactions with Color Dotz
• Magnifying glass experiment: How does your computer and TV make colors?
• How to make your own rainbow, and meet “Roy G. Biv”