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Handout
Science Struck

Science Struck: How Does Light Travel Through Space and Other Media?

For Students 9th - 10th
A detailed discussion of the nature of light, how it can travel through a vacuum, and how the speed of light is affected when light travels through a medium.
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Handout
Mocomi & Anibrain Digital Technologies

Mocomi: What Is the Speed of Light?

For Students 3rd - 8th
How fast does light travel? How does its speed change when it travels through different media? Learn how scientists calculate the speed of light and some interesting facts.
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Handout
Symmetry Magazine

Symmetry Magazine: Explain It in 60 Seconds: Cherenkov Light

For Students 9th - 10th
Cherenkov light is explained here as the light emitted when a charged particle travels through matter faster than light would be able to. This would be slower, however, than the maximum speed of light, which occurs in a vacuum. "Explain...
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Article
Society for Science and the Public

Science News for Students: Breaking the Universal Speed Limit

For Students 9th - 10th
Describes research into whether neutrinos travel faster than the speed of light.
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Unknown Type
Project Britain

Primary Homework Help: Light and Shadows Quiz

For Students 3rd - 8th
This resource provides information about light and shadows. In addition, there is a short quiz that can be taken.
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Activity
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Space Math Scale of the Solar System

For Students 6th - 8th
Practice Space Math! Math is the cornerstone of space travel. Familiarize yourself with all the ways math can help you study the solar system. Practice math problems in areas such as speed of light, the distance of planets to the sun,...
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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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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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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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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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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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Handout
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Think Like Einstein

For Students 9th - 10th
This interactive activity from the NOVA Web site challenges you to think like Einstein and understand how time travel might be possible.
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Website
Ducksters

Ducksters: Physics for Kids: Light

For Students 1st - 9th
Kids learn about the science of light. Energy made of waves and particles called photons traveling at the top speed in the universe. What is refraction? The difference between transparent, translucent, and opaque.
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Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Sunlight Is Way Older Than You Think

For Students 9th - 10th
It takes light a zippy eight minutes to reach Earth from the surface of the Sun. But how long does it take that same light to travel from the Sun's core to its surface? Oddly enough, the answer is many thousands of years. Sten Odenwald...
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Lesson Plan
University of Texas at Austin

The University of Texas Mc Donald Observatory: Super Gelatin

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers measure the angles of refraction of laser light traveling through gelatin, then plot their data to calculate the gelatin's index of refraction.
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Unit Plan
BBC

Bbc: Gcse Bitesize: General Properties of Waves

For Students 9th - 10th
Light travels as waves. Waves can be described by their amplitude, wavelength and frequency. The speed of a wave can be calculated from its frequency and wavelength.
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Activity
Other

Fear of Physics: Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity

For Students 9th - 10th
Fear of Physics uses animations and simple language to teach the theory of relativity.
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Unit Plan
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: Physical Science: Refraction

For Students 7th - 9th
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] 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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Handout
Georgia State University

Georgia State University: Hyper Physics: Wave Motion

For Students 9th - 10th
Two wave graphs depicting a sine wave and relating the various characteristics (wavelength, amplitude, frequency, and period) of a wave to each other. The site includes an interactive JavaScript form in which the visitor enters one...