The Beginnings of the Telescope

This animated essay from the NOVA Web site examines the design of Galileo's refracting telescope and Sir Isaac Newton's reflecting telescope.

Diamonds: The Science Behind the Sparkle

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.

Galileo's Telescope

The invention of the telescope helped change our understanding of the universe. This video segment adapted from NOVA looks at Galileo's contribution to this technology.

Accessibility features: Caption

Geometric Optics

This interactive simulation adapted from the University of Colorado's Physics Education Technology project illustrates how lenses refract light to form images. Manipulate the object, screen, lens, and focal length and observe how the image adjusts.

Laser Waterfall

In this video from the Encyclopedia of Physics Demonstrations, observe how a laser beam is trapped in a water jet because the light reflects against the surface of the water.

Accessibility features: Caption

Light Particles Acting Like Waves: The Uncertainty Principle

This video segment adapted from A Science Odyssey uses a laser beam to demonstrate how light particles act like waves, illustrating Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle.

Accessibility features: Caption

Light Wave Behaviors

Discover the ways light interacts with objects in this interactive activity adapted from NASA.

Observing Refraction of Light

This video segment adapted from Shedding Light on Science illustrates how light changes speed, and thus direction, in a process known as refraction.

Accessibility features: Caption

Primary Colors of Light and Pigments

In this interactive activity adapted from Shedding Light on Science, discover the difference between the primary colors of light and the primary colors of pigment—and the connection between the two.

Refraction of Light Demonstration

In this interactive activity featuring videos adapted from the Rutgers PAER Group, observe how light bends when it travels through a convex lens, a concave lens, and glass.

Spectrometry Explained

Find out how light can be used to identify chemical compounds in this interactive activity adapted from NASA.

Speed of Light

This video segment adapted from Shedding Light on Science uses historical illustrations and everyday examples to show that light has a speed and does not travel instantaneously.

Accessibility features: Caption