Tag Archives: wavelength

Show Them the Speed of Light, Using a Chocolate Bar!

If you have the typical classroom, your students will be a little extra distracted this February 14th for Valentine’s Day. We found a fun way to capture their attention on this sweetie-filled holiday and still teach a little physics in the process. In particular, you can [...]

Students investigate properties of mechanical waves using a "slinky" spring: wavelength, speed, reflection, standing waves, interference.

Good for grade levels 5 through 8

Required Equipment
Super Springy, Stopwatch, String, Masking Tape, Helical Spring

Acknowledgements: Thank you to Dwight "Buzz" Putnam for his assistance in developing this lab. Buzz is a 25 year veteran physics teacher at Whitesboro High School, New [...]

In this activity, students will investigate the splitting of a light beam that occurs when the beam passes through a diffraction grating. You will determine the role of wavelength and line spacing in the resulting pattern. When light passes through a pair of thin slits, an interference pattern reveals the wave nature of light. A diffraction grating is a film with thousands of slits. Light waves passing through a diffraction grating also produce an interference pattern. The geometry of the pattern depends on the spacing of the slits and the wavelength of the light.

Chapter 31 Lab #88: Purpose: To use the basic principles of diffraction and interference to measure the wavelength of laser light.

Looking for a Hands-On Activity to Excite your Students about Learning Electricity?In this issue of CoolStuff we have just the thing! A series of hands-on electricity activities that students can use to to explore key electricity concepts. No matter what level students you teach, elementary, middle school, or high school; we have something for everyone. Real life electricity investigations where your student's see, hear, and feel actual results in electronic configurations.