Nature of Light white light and colours activity1

• Estimated Time - 2 periods of 40 minutes
• Materials/ Resources needed

White paper, Pins, Source of Light, Prisms, Dark room

• Prerequisites/Instructions, if any

1. Activity on Recombination of Colours
2. Dark room for light experiments

• Multimedia resources
• Website interactives/ links/ simulations

Newton's Prism Experiment. This is a demonstration of the experiment showing the splitting and recombination of white light. Useful to show the students after the demonstration/ experimentation in class.

• Process (How to do the activity)

1. Demonstrate the dispersion using a prism and recombination of the light
2. Students must do this experiment in groups
3. The teacher must demonstrate carefully how to position the prism, how to observe rays in light experiments
4. Students must be able to draw ray diagrams showing the split of the spectrum

• Developmental Questions (What discussion questions)

1. When the light falls on the prism, what did you expect to see? What happened?
2. What are the colours you see? What is the order of the colours?

• Evaluation (Questions for assessment of the child)

1. From the incoming beam of light, which colour showed the maximum angle of dispersion? (This question can be picked up later to discuss wavelengths and electromagnetic spectrum)
2. If you change the direction of the incoming light, what happens to the dispersion?
3. Observe the accuracy of the diagrams

• Question Corner