Not your usual experiment, this is a book: “The League of Scientists” is a young adult fiction book by Andy Kaiser (the creator of Digital Bits Science Lab).

Equipment needed:

The League of Scientists is available here: http://www.LeagueOfScientists.com

The Digital Bits Science Lab Experiment:

The League of Scientists is a group of smart kids who love science. They use their knowledge and critical thinking skills to solve seemingly-supernatural mysteries.

One of the components of the book is the mystery aspect, and not just the “main” mystery. In most chapters, there is a puzzle. The solution to the puzzle involves the application of science or critical thinking. The book is intended to give science education (and scientific applications – something you don’t always get from such fiction) while still giving kids a good story and characters.

If you’ve ever wanted to make your own rainbow, it’s not difficult with a little experimentation.

Equipment Needed:

A flashlight

A large, wide glass (it should be as wide or wider than the head of your flashlight)

Water

The Digital Bits Science Lab Experiment:

In this experiment, we refract light from our flashlight through water. The light, when refracted in the right way, will separate the light into its component colors. The name “Roy G. Biv” is an easy to remember name. It’s also an acronym: ROYGBIV are the first letters of all the colors in a rainbow. The colors in a rainbow are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

A rainbow is also an example of additive color mixing. Additive color mixing occurs when you mix together different colors of light. The light coming from the flashlight is our combination of all colors – it appears white. After shining it through our water, the water separates the white light into the colors that make it up.

To make a rainbow, I used a coffee pot filled with water. Then I placed it on the floor, and shone a flashlight through it, with the refracted light landing on a nearby wall:

Next, you’ll have to play with the flashlight and the water. Move them around. Angle them differently. Move them closer to or away from the wall. The light pattern on the wall will change, and eventually, if you work it right, you’ll see a rainbow at the edges of the light pattern. While the setup you see pictured above worked pretty well, the rainbow picture below was taken by shining the flashlight from underneath the coffee pot, shining the light pattern on the ceiling:

Here’s a close-up of the rainbow picture. Look close, and say hello to Mr. Roy G. Biv!

Learn about colors and color mixing with light.

Equipment needed:

There are a few options, depending on the personality of the child and the amount you’re willing to spend:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Color Magic Puzzle is a puzzle consisting of sliding colored plastic squares. The object (and the fun) is to slide the squares around the puzzle, mixing and creating different colors as you do so.

The Magna-Tiles Clear Colors 32 piece set is a construction set of translucent colored plastic triangles, squares, and similar straight-edge shapes.

For larger construction projects or larger groups of children, a Magna-Tiles 100 piece set is also available.

The Digital Bits Science Lab Experiment:

This combining of different colors of light to form other colors is called additive color mixing. Using the Color Magic Puzzle or Magna-Tiles sets illustrate how blending different colors of light gives you different colors.

Younger children will probably love the Magna-Tiles, since they’re less goal-oriented; it’s fun just to stick the things together. Older children can be taught about color combinations, and would further appreciate the Magna-Tiles as well as the Color Magic Puzzle.