By: Charlene Rennick
Light is more than just bright, white space. It is made up of all the colours in the rainbow. An easy way to remember all seven rainbow colours is to introduce you to Roy G. Biv. The letters in his name stand for red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
To see what colours are in a beam of light, you have to bend it. This is called refraction. You can put the colours back into a beam of light by spinning them quickly in a circle.
Here’s how to make a light beam at home:
What you need:
Pencil
Scissors
White cardboard or Bristol board
Crayons or markers
Ruler
Bowl or round object you can trace around to make a circle
Paper cup
Directions:
Trace a circle on the white cardboard and cut it out. Using the ruler, divide the circle into 6 equal sections.
Colour the six sections with the markers. Be extra careful to stay inside the lines and colour in all the white spot. It is important that the colours be thick, dark and even.
Poke a hole through the middle of the circle with the pencil and push the pencil part way through the hole.
Punch a hole in the bottom of the paper cup with the end of the pencil.
Turn the cup over on top of a piece of paper.
Push the pencil through the hole so the pencil point just rests on the paper. Adjust the colour wheel so it is about 2 cm above the cup.
Spin the pencil quickly between your palms.
What do you see?
The colours on the wheel are the colours that make up white light. If the wheel spins fast enough, the colours will blend together and the wheel will look white.