Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Disappearing Beaker



Confession: Even though we haven't officially started homeschooling yet this year, three of my students are doing some schoolwork in the mornings if they are not helping me pack. (Moving vans are arriving this weekend, so we will probably forget about school again.)

Mr. D is evaluating a new science curriculum this month: Supercharged Science. He is working on the first unit on Mechanics, but also looking around the website for an overview of the material. He came across this light experiment on Disappearing Beaker, and decided to try it one morning (since we had all three ingredients needed: a pyrex dish, a bigger see-through dish and cooking oil.)



(If you look around, you can see how the rooms are getting empty and you might spot a box or two, although I do try to block messy backgrounds when I can :)




Very cool!!! Mr. D was able to bend the light to make the beaker disappear (harder to tell in the photo). Aurora from Supercharged Science writes:

"Pyrex has the same index of refraction as the oil, which means your eye can’t tell the difference between the two visually because passes through both the same way...

As the index of refraction value increases, the optical density increases, and the speed of light in that material decreases. For a vacuum, the index of refraction is 1.0000 (lowest optical density), and this is where light travels fastest. The index of refraction values give us a way to measure of the relative speed of a light wave in a particular material or medium. If we know the relative speeds, we can predict which way light bends when moving from one medium to another."

So far Mr. D has enjoyed his Supercharged Science lessons, we'll see if this is what we'll use for his 7th grade science!

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9 comments:

  1. Very curious to learn more about your son's experience with Supercharged Science. We have yet to find a curriculum that we *love*. So far we really like Noeo, but aren't sure we love it enough to commit to another year of it...

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  2. We signed up for Supercharged Science this year, as well! We have not started it yet, so I am glad to read that your son is enjoying it so far.

    Blessings,
    Lisa

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  3. Piti oikein katsoa sanakirjasta, mikä on beaker. Oudolta tuntuu nähdä, miten teidän ihana talo tyhjenee, mutta kiva, että löysitte kuitenkin ostajan ja elämähän jatkuu muuallakin.

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  4. Malea, I sure hope this is it! Two of my kids will use Monarch science, but it just hasn't been a great fit for Mr. D & I'm planning to use the new curr with Mr. A too. So far Supercharged Science is good!

    Lisa, I'd love to find out what you all think of it.

    Allu, on tämä outoa... Surullista, mutta jännittävää myös. Sekä paljon työtä!!

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  5. We are using Apologia Science this year, and the kids absolutely love it. They have done so many experiments! It is fantastic when the curriculum gets them excited. :) Keep posting about their science adventures!

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  6. Very cool. And girl we haven't started either. Too much going on.

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  7. Rhen, I have been looking into Apologia, but might wait until 8th grade so we can have the curr on dvds.

    Anna, I'm not too worried. If we get started really late we can always work into summer longer. Or have fewer vacations this year :)

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  8. Toivottavasti teillä on kaikki hyvin siellä myrskystä huolimatta.

    Sirkku

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  9. Sirkku, hyvin selvittiin, kiitos muistamisesta! Anoppilassa meni sähköt noin 24 tunniksi, mutta heillä onneksi on generaattori. Palasin juuri New Hampshireen, ja sähköt toimivat, ja myrskyn jäljet oli ehditty siivota pois jo meidän pihasta. Osa New Hampshirestä ja Mainesta oli kokenut isoja tuhoja. Kiitollinen mieli suojeluksesta!

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