An Experiment on Light
What is light? This question has interested scientists for hundreds of years. Isaac Newton discovered that light is made up of a spectrum of colored light. He used a prism in his research, but you can use a pan of water to "refract" or bend light. The lab sheet is provided so that you can record what you discover!
There is a story about Isaac Newton that he chanced upon a prism at a book fair during his college years. Despite his thrifty nature, he purchased the curiosity and proceeded to invent dozens of experiments with the light and prism. When he observed how the prism cast a "rainbow" on the wall, he hypothesized that the prism was splitting the light into bands of many different colors of light. To test his hypothesis, however, he had to wait for another fair so that he could purchase a second prism to put all the colors back together!
Isaac Newton went on to make many important discoveries in the fields of physics and mathematics. He wrote: "This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being." Few people know that the man who discovered the "Laws of Motion" also wrote about God: "We must believe that he is the father of whom are all things, & that he loves his people as his children that they may mutually love him & obey him as their father." You can find the full story of Isaac Newton in the book "The Ocean of Truth" by Joyce McPherson or through research at your library.
If you would like to experiment with prisms, try placing a prism in front of a slit of light. Place a sheet of white paper opposite the prism to catch the spectrum. Use a blank lab form for your experiment.