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Website
NASA

Rxte Learning Center: Frequency, Wave Length, and Energy Activity

For Students 9th - 10th
Resource focuses on the relationship between the frequency, wavelength and speed of light. Has a link to an interactive activity relating frequency, wavelength, and energy.
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Website
Other

Uc Riverside: Usenet Relativity Faq

For Students 9th - 10th
A physics usenet listing of frequently asked questions relating to relativity, answered by a number of scientists. Administrivia and Reference, Speed of Light, Special Relativity, General Relativity and Cosmology, Black Holes. Loads of...
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Handout
NASA

Nasa Space Place: What Is a Light Year?

For Students 3rd - 8th
Brief description of light-years with examples and images.
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Graphic
PBS

Pbs Nova: The Light Stuff

For Students 5th - 7th
In a provided image, students try to identify what ordinary objects in the house can kick light into a lower gear. Find out why the speed of light isn't always 186,000 miles per second.
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Unit Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Observing Refraction of Light

For Students 9th - 10th
This video segment adapted from Shedding Light on Science illustrates how light changes speed, and thus direction, in a process known as refraction. Includes background reading and discussion questions. [2:05]
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eBook
Physics Classroom

The Physics Classroom:refraction/ray Model of Light: Optical Density/light Speed

For Students 9th - 10th
In order to understand refraction, students will explore the factors that affect the speed at which a light wave is transported through a medium.
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Website
University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota: Refraction of Light

For Students 9th - 10th
This page is a continuation of a tutorial about light reflection and refraction. It contains a diagram and suggestions on how to derive Snell's Law, which governs the refraction of light in a medium. For background to this derivation,...
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Unit Plan
Synopsys

Synopsys: Optics for Kids: What Is Light?

For Students 3rd - 8th
This site provides a short explanation of light, how it travels, and the speed in which it travels. Many other concepts related to optics can be found on this site as well.
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Handout
Other

Uni: Astronomy: Formula Light

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about light properties through practice with formulas. This resource shows the relationship between the speed of light, its wavelength, and its frequency. A fairly simple, but important relationship.
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Unit Plan
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: Physical Science: Refraction of Light

For Students 4th - 5th
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Discusses refraction of light in matter and how light changes its speed and angle of refraction according to the type of medium it is travelling through.
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Website
Ducksters

Ducksters: Physics for Kids: Theory of Relativity Light and Time

For Students 1st - 9th
Kids learn about the speed of light and time dilation in regards to the theory of relativity in the science of physics. Also how gravity can change the passage of time.
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Interactive
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: Plix: Refraction: Light Entering Water

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] Explore how water distorts the location of objects due to the speed at which light travels through different mediums by moving the red point to adjust the angle of the fisherman's line of vision.
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Handout
Fourmilab Switzerland

John Walker: C Ship: The Dilation of Time

For Students 9th - 10th
A good mathematical account of what happens to time as you approach c: the speed of light. Also provides a rather a fascinating video (fly through the Lattice) - don't miss it. Take some time and explore this site.
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Article
Open Curriculum

Open Curriculum: Electromagnetism

For Students 9th - 10th
This article helps explain the concept of electromagnetism as well as magnetic fields and the properties of the speed of light.
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Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: How Simple Ideas Lead to Scientific Discoveries

For Students 9th - 10th
Educator, Adam Savage, shares two astounding examples of profound scientific discoveries that came from simple, creative procedures: Eratosthenes' calculation of the Earth's circumference and Hippolyte Fizeau's measurement of the speed...
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Article
Society for Science and the Public

Science News for Students: Neutrinos Not So Fast

For Students 9th - 10th
Discusses the validity of research showing that neutrinos travel faster than the speed of light.
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Article
Famous Scientists

Famous Scientists: Albert Abraham Michelson

For Students 9th - 10th
Meet Nobel Prize winner, Albert Michelson, an American physicist known for his work on the measurement of the speed of light and especially for the Michelson-Morley experiment.
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Activity
American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History: O Logy: Train of Thought

For Students 3rd - 8th
Try out your ability to think like Einstein by working through two thought experiments that help explain how satellites stay in orbit and how the speed of light affects the universe.
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Measuring Speed of Moving Objects With Stroboscopic Photography

For Students 9th - 10th
A strobe light can illuminate an entire room in just tens of microseconds. Inexpensive strobe lights can flash up to 10 or 20 times per second. This project shows you how to use stroboscopic photography to analyze motion.
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Interactive
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: Physics Simulation: Least Time

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] Explore how Snell's Law arises out of the principle of least time; understand how light rays change direction at interfaces between materials using this interactive simulation. A PDF worksheet and a...
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Navigating at the Speed of Satellites

For Teachers 6th - 9th
For thousands of years, navigators have looked to the sky for direction. Today, celestial navigation has simply switched from using natural objects to human-created satellites. A constellation of satellites, called the Global Positioning...
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs Teachers: Math Space Odyssey: How Long Is a Light Year?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
This lesson helps young scholars to demonstrate the ability to use a light year as a standard of measurement to calculate time and distance from the earth. They will also solve problems based on light years.
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Handout
American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History: O Logy: Light, Matter, Energy: Light the Way

For Students 3rd - 8th
What is electromagnetic radiation and how does it work? Review a captioned graphic that explains electromagnetic radiation and the visible and invisible types of radiation on the electromagnetic spectrum.
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Article
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Diamonds: The Science Behind the Sparkle

For Students 9th - 10th
This illustrated essay from the NOVA Web site explains why the atomic structure of a diamond slows down light and produces a sparkle more brilliant than from any other colorless substance.

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