The Magic Wand and Other Bright Experiments on Light and Color: The Exploratorium Science Snackbook Series
Jim Jardine · Physics Education · 1996
The famous Exploratorium in San Francisco was founded in 1969 by the late Frank Oppenheimer. On the other side of the Atlantic the development of interactive science centres owes a great deal to the pioneering work done there and to Oppenheimer's principle of the three i's: innovation, interaction and involvement. The publication of this Science Snackbook Series, based on some of the most popular exhibits in the Exploratorium, will be welcomed by teachers of science and technology (`shop teachers' as the latter are quaintly labelled!) and by anyone looking for simple `hands-on' science materials. In addition to the experiments on light and colour described in this Snackbook, others in the series cover Force and Motion, Energy and Matter and How we See the World. Each science snack includes a list of the (often American!) materials required, followed by instructions, advice and helpful hints on how to construct and use the equipment. There is a drawing of the original museum exhibit and a photograph of the scaled down version which can be built at home or in school. Finally the science involved in each snack is discussed. Physics teachers will be familiar with many of the explorations described here but there is enough valuable information included with each snack to justify a library copy for every school. The 25 topics in the book include blue sky/red sunset, stress patterns in plastic, rainbow coloured interference patterns, coloured shadows, multiple reflections, critical angle, cylindrical mirrors, diffraction patterns, disappearing glass rods, kaleidoscope, inverse square law, pictures in the air (waving stick), images in space, polarized light, soap film painting, spectra and water lenses. These snacks certainly whet the appetite.