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.

These concept connection cards can be used in small groups or for self study. They help students build an understanding of three core topics in astronomy -- the HR diagram, light, and fusion. The file includes instructions for usage, as well as cards in multiple formats. They were created by Kaisa Young from Nicholls State University.

What is a star and what shape is it? Students explore both artistic and scientific representations of stars, learn that stars are like the sun but much further away and make their own star hat.

Student groups rotate through four stations to examine light energy behavior: refraction, magnification, prisms and polarization. They see how a beam of light is refracted (bent) through various transparent mediums. While learning how a magnifying glass works, students see how the orientation of an image changes with the distance of the lens from its focal point. They also discover how a prism works by refracting light and making rainbows. And, students investigate the polar nature of light using sunglasses and polarized light film.

This course explores the theory of self-assembly in surfactant-water (micellar) and surfactant-water-oil (micro-emulsion) systems. It also introduces the theory of polymer solutions, as well as scattering techniques, light, x-ray, and neutron scattering applied to studies of the structure and dynamics of complex liquids, and modern theory of the liquid state relevant to structured (supramolecular) liquids.

The transition from high school and home to college and a new living environment can be a fascinating and interesting time, made all the more challenging and interesting by being at MIT. More than recording the first semester through a series of snapshots, this freshman seminar will attempt to teach photography as a method of seeing and a tool for better understanding new surroundings. Over the course of the semester, students will develop a body of work through a series of assignments, and then attempt to describe the conditions and emotions of their new environment in a cohesive final presentation.

In this podcast, listen to a traditional Inuit tale about the seasonal light and darkness of the Arctic.

Street lights of the same type will look brighter when they are close to you, and less bright when they are farther away. The same applies to astronomical objects: a given star will look brighter to a nearby observer than to an observer far away. In both cases, the difference in brightness can be used to deduce the relative distances of suitable objects. Standard candles, objects of constant intrinsic brightness or whose intrinsic brightness can be determined by careful measurements, are a key tool for astronomical distance determination. In this exploration, you will explore standard candles (and also effects that complicate distance measurements) in a simple everyday setting, namely that of street lights, using a digital camera and freely available software.

This article provides elementary school teachers with background knowledge about science concepts needed to understand the first of seven essential principles of climate literacy--the sun is the primary source of energy for our climate system. Graphs, diagrams, and oneline resources provide more background for the teacher. The article appears in a free online magazine that focuses on the seven essential princples of the climate sciences.

Thin film interference occurs when light waves reflecting off the top and bottom surfaces of a thin film interfere with one another. This type of interference is the reason that thin films, such as oil or soap bubbles, form colorful patterns. Created by David SantoPietro.

Let's work out a few details on how thin film interference works. Created by David SantoPietro.

This interactive activity from the NOVA Web site challenges you to think like Einstein and understand how time travel might be possible.

Student teams conduct an experiment that uses gold nanoparticles as sensors of chemical agents to determine which of four sports drinks has the most electrolytes. In this way, students are introduced to gold nanoparticles and their influence on particle or cluster size and fluorescence. They also learn about surface plasmon resonance phenomena and how it applies to gold nanoparticle technologies, which touches on the basics of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum, electrolyte chemistry and nanoscience. Using some basic chemistry and physics principles, students develop a conceptual understanding of how gold nanoparticles function. They also learn of important practical applications in biosensing.

In this activity, learners overlap the three primary colors to see how all other colors are made. This activity also explains how color can be explained by the subtraction of colors of light, related to the principles of absorption and reflection of light.

Students are introduced to an engineering challenge in which they are given a job assignment to separate three types of apples. However, they are unable to see the color differences between the apples, and as a result, they must think as engineers to design devices that can be used to help them distinguish the apples from one another. Solving the challenge depends on an understanding of wave properties and the biology of sight. After being introduced to the challenge, students form ideas and brainstorm about what background knowledge is required to solve the challenge. A class discussion produces student ideas that can be grouped into broad subject categories: waves and wave properties, light and the electromagnetic spectrum, and the structure of the eye.

This video from NASA explains the process by which gamma-ray flashes associated with storms produce matter/antimatter particle pairs.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"It might seem like something straight out of comic book fantasy, but this self-healing material is all real. Able to repair itself in mere minutes—with practically no external input—this new class of polymer could hold the key to making plastics nearly invincible. To be sure, self-healing materials aren’t all that new. Scientists have discovered that the lime mortar used in Ancient Roman structures like the Colosseum forms tiny plate-like crystals that fill in cracks that develop over time. And researchers long ago cracked the chemistry that enables polymer networks to zip back up after damage. These materials, however, typically involve expensive and sophisticated designs. Many require complex chemical reactions to function or ionic or electronic interactions found only in a small subset of polymers. On top of that, repair often requires an external source of energy, typically in the form of heat, light, or pressure..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This OLogy activity first introduces kids to the idea of thought experiments. Then it puts their scientific creativity to work with two mind-bending experiments that rely solely on imagination. Both thought experiments have background information, plus concrete examples of how to approach the experiment. Specifically, they ask:Can you throw a ball so hard it never falls to Earth?What if light could only travel one foot/second?