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!

Refraction happens when when light is bent as it moves. Instead of going in a straight line, it appears to turn, curve or bend.

Equipment Needed:

A flashlight

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

Water

The Digital Bits Science Lab Experiment:

To make light refract, you need to pass it through two different substances. In this example, the two substances are air and water. Fill up a glass of water. Place a flashlight flat on a table, so that the light is pointed straight through the center of the glass. Turn on the flashlight, turn out the lights, and you’ll see light passing straight through the glass, like this:

Next, simply roll the flashlight. Don’t actually turn it, just move the entire flashlight up and down in relation to the glass. Even though the light is still coming straight out of the flashlight, the light will be refracted (bent) as it moves through the water in the glass. The refractive qualities of the water (and the shape of the water within the glass) will bend the light as you see in the picture below:

Looking at this with better lighting, examine the red line in the picture below. That indicates the path the light takes as it’s refracted. Again, this is caused by the water refracting the light, and the position of the flashlight in relation to the glass:

You’ve probably seen this happen at a restaurant. You’re sipping your drink through a straw. You glance at your glass at just the right angle, and the straw looks “broken”. Let’s take a closer look at what’s happening.

Equipment Needed:

A straw (a stick, a pencil, a chopstick, or any other straight object will work fine)

A tall glass

Water

The Digital Bits Science Lab Experiment:

Fill the glass halfway with water. Put the straw in it. If you place the straw at just the right angle, and view the glass from just the right angle, the straw will appear “broken”:

What’s happening here?

This experiment demonstrates the concept of refraction. Refraction happens when light is bent – it doesn’t always travel in a straight line. The water in the glass bends light as you’re looking at it. So part of the straw looks like it’s in a different place.

This strange appearance of the straw is because of what is called the “refractive index”. The refractive index is the measurement of slowdown light (and other waveform energy) encounters when in a particular substance. The refractive index of water is different than the refractive index of air. Light behaves differently when in water versus air. To us, this simply looks like our straw is bent or broken.