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Laser Refraction Tank
Item #P2-7095
$120.00
Bundle Discount
| Unit Price | $120.00 |
| 6+ | $112.00 |
Measure refraction, critical angle, Snell’s Law and more with water optics
Explore the behavior of light at boundaries with a clear, classroom-ready optical tool. Arbor Scientific’s Laser Refraction Tank allows students to directly measure and observe refraction, reflection, and critical angles as a laser beam passes between air and water. A built-in laser source revolves around a circular graduated scale, so teachers and students alike can set and read incident and refracted angles with precision while visualizing light paths through different media.
The tank’s clear acrylic and simple water fill make the curved path of light easy to see as it moves from air into water, water into air, or even within water itself. Detachable prisms and mirrors extend the range of optics investigations, letting you perform supplementary reflection and refraction experiments with the same apparatus.
Why Teachers Love the Laser Refraction Tank
- Visual, hands-on optics exploration: Students see light rays bend and reflect in real time, making abstract refraction concepts concrete.
- Rotating laser with graduated scale: The laser can be positioned anywhere around the circular scale to measure angles with one-degree precision.
- Multi-phenomena optics: Observe refraction at boundaries, reflection, and total internal reflection at different angles.
- Expandable experiments: Detachable optics (prisms, mirrors) turn the same tank into a platform for broader light-behavior investigations.
Resources
Product Details
What You Can Teach With the Laser Refraction Tank
Use in middle school, high school, and introductory college physics optics units to explore:
- Law of refraction (Snell’s Law): Relate incident and refracted angles as light passes between media.
- Angle measurement and graphic analysis: Students practice setting and reading angles on a graduated circular scale.
- Total internal reflection & critical angle: Demonstrate the condition where light reflects entirely within a medium.
- Reflection at boundaries: Compare and contrast reflection vs. refraction behavior.
- Extended optics investigations: Using included prisms and mirrors, build on basic refraction studies to explore more complex light paths.
The Laser Refraction Tank turns geometric optics from equations into observable, adjustable, and measurable classroom experiments—helping students connect theory to what they can see and measure.
Products being sold are not toys. They are for Educational / Laboratory use only. They are not for use by children 12 and under.
Product Specifications
What's Included:
1 Laser Tank (Trough)
1 Base
1 Laser Pointer with Detachable Housing Unit
4 Prisms
2 Mirrors
1 Beam Splitter
Warning: California Residents
WARNING: Cancer & Reproductive Harm — www.P65Warnings.ca.gov
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