Florida State University
Florida State University: Light and Color: Sources of Visible Light
This site discusses primary lighting sources and gives information on the different properties and spectral characteristics of each. Also includes links to some interactive Java applets.
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: If Superpowers Were Real: Invisibility
What if invisibility wasn't just the stuff of epic comic book stories? Is it scientifically possible to be invisible? In this series, creator Joy Lin tackles six superpowers and reveals just how scientifically realistic they can be. [4:33]
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Technicolor Shadows: Lessons in Light and Color
Is that right side of your brain yearning to express its artistic side? This is a project that blends art with science. Learn about light and colorful shadows in these experiments where you mix and match various colors of light to create...
University of Colorado
University of Colorado: Physics 2000: Quantum Atom
Several pages with an interesting discussion of the visible light spectrum and atomic absorption and emission line spectrum. Features excellent graphics, thorough and understandable discussion, and many interactive Java applets.
BioEd Online
Bio Ed Online: Rainbow in the Room
Students investigate the properties of visible light and the sequence of colors in the spectrum using light shone through water and prisms. The lesson and accompanying slideshow can both be downloaded.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Building a Fancy Spectrograph
Students create and decorate their own spectrographs using simple materials and holographic diffraction gratings. A holographic diffraction grating acts like a prism, showing the visual components of light. After building the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Engineering Your Own Spectrograph
Students use simple materials to design an open spectrograph so they can calculate the angle light is bent when it passes through a holographic diffraction grating. A holographic diffraction grating acts like a prism, showing the visual...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Designing a Spectroscopy Mission
Students find and calculate the angle that light is transmitted through a holographic diffraction grating using trigonometry. After finding this angle, student teams design and build their own spectrographs, researching and designing a...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Spectroscopy
Students learn how using a spectrograph helps us understand the composition of light sources. Using simple materials and holographic diffraction gratings (available online at a variety of sites, including Edmund Scientifics and the...
Libre Text
Libre Texts: Physics: The Ray Model of Light
How is light visible? Examine this source to understand what light is and how it travels. Answer discussion questions and practice problems to better recognize light rays and know their functions.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Night Light Video
Watch PEEP and Quack [8:49] have fun with shadows in the middle of the night using flashlights. They learn that shadows can grow and change shape by rotating the object. An additional hands-on activity is provided for students along with...
NASA
Nasa: Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum: Visible Light
Visible light waves are the only electromagnetic waves we can see. We see these waves as the colors of the rainbow. Each color has a different wavelength. Red has the longest wavelength and violet has the shortest wavelength. When all...
Physics Central
Physics Central: Physics in the Snow: Snowy Colors
A simple experiment through which students observe the connection between color and heat and prove that dark-colored objects and light-colored objects heat at different rates, even when exposed to the same heat or light source.
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: About Rainbows
This site from the University Corporation of Atmospheric Research provides an illustrated article about the phenomenon of rainbows.
University of Colorado
University of Colorado: Physics 2000: Temperature and Absolute Zero
A thorough, multipage discussion of color and color television sets that explains how an image is formed on the television using red, green, and blue light. Understandable discussion, excellent graphics, and many interactive Java applets.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Graphing the Rainbow
Students are introduced to different ways of displaying visual spectra, including colored "barcode" spectra, like those produced by a diffraction grating, and line plots displaying intensity versus color, or wavelength. Students learn...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: A Spectral Mystery
Students use the spectrograph from the "Building a Fancy Spectrograph" activity to gather data about light sources. Using their data, they make comparisons between different light sources and make conjectures about the composition of a...
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Physical Science: Artificial Light
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] What artificial light is and five different types, and how each type produces visible light.
Physics Classroom
The Physics Classroom: The Electromagnetic and Visible Spectra
A tutorial on the electromagnetic and visible spectra. Discusses dispersion and how perceptions of white and black are related to the visible light spectrum.
Physics Classroom
The Physics Classroom: Light Waves/color: Visible Light and the Eye's Response
Students learn how the eye responds to visible light, and how that function ultimately allows us to see.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Ray Tracing
This 7-question interactive quiz, students practice ray tracing by finding a ray that hits a specific target.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Light Rays
This is a quiz covering reflected, refracted, shadow, and camera rays.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Let's Explore Light: Lesson Plan
Young scholars will use observations and evidence to describe that objects can only be seen if they are illuminated by an external light source or give off their own light. Media is used to supplement student observations and encourage...