Lens 1-Concave
Lens 2-Convex
Names___________________________
Light Stations-Colors, Mirrors, Lenses, Filters and Polarization
Directions: Travel from station to station. Feel free to rotate to open stations until you complete them
all. For observations you can write or draw descriptions.
Station 1-Concave Mirrors, Convex Mirrors, and Plane Mirrors
1. Examine the two different types of mirrors and note your observations. Is the mirror flat; is the
middle wider than the outside, etc? Is the image upside down, right side up, left right reversed,
magnified, etc?
Mirror 1-Concave
Mirror 2-Convex
Mirror 3-Plane Mirror
Shape of mirrorShape of mirrorShape of mirror-
Reflected Image-
Reflected Image-
Reflected Image-
2. What happens to the size of the laser beam when it is reflected from the three mirrors?
Mirror 1-Concave
Mirror 2-Convex
Mirror 3-Plane Mirror
3. What would be the best use for each mirror?
Mirror 1-Concave
Mirror 2-Convex
Mirror 3-Plane Mirror
Station 2-Converging Lens, Diverging Lens, and Laser
1. Examine the two different lenses and record your observations. Include observations on the
shape of the lens and the image viewed through the lenses. Is the image right side up, upside
down, magnified, focus out of focus, etc. Try holding the lens close to your eyes, far from your
eye, close to objects, far from objects, etc.
Shape of lens-Converging
Shape of lens-Diverging
Image through lens:
Lens close to eye and close to object-
Image through lens:
Lens close to eye and close to object-
Lens close to eye and far from object-
Lens close to eye and far from object-
Lens far from the eye and close to the object-
Lens far from the eye and close to the object-
Lens far from the eye and far from the object-
Lens far from the eye and far from the object-
2. Shine the laser through the lens and onto your desk.
Move the laser right and left and make observations. Does the laser move right and left
with your hand?
Converging
Diverging
3. Stand up and shine the laser through the lens and onto the floor.
Move the laser right and left and make observations. Does the laser move right and left
with your hand?
Converging
Diverging
4. Observe the two pictures below and answer the questions that follow.
a. What type of lens should be used to correct this issue? Draw a picture to show the correction
with the lens (glasses).
b. What type of lens should be used to correct this issue? Draw a picture to show the correction
with the lens (glasses).
Station 3-Polaroid Filters and Light
1. Examine the filters. Place one over a light source. What happens to the light passing through?
You have just polarized light.
2. Place one filter on top of the other near a light source and rotate them. Record what happens.
3. Place a plastic object (hard plastic or a bag) between two filters and shine a light
through them. What do you see? (Areas of structural stress show many colored
bands)
Station 4: Lights, color wheel, and color filters.
1. Place different combinations of filters over the lights and record your observations.
Red + Green=
Red + Blue=
Blue + Green=
Red + Blue + Green=
Try your own!
2. Place all of the filters over the light source and record what happens.
3. Spin the colored wheel as fast as you can. What color do you observe? Why?
Station 5: Binoculars and Microscopes
1. Examine the binoculars and view a distant object through the window. What do the binoculars
do?
2. What does adjusting the focus knob on the binoculars move?
Figure 1-Optics of binoculars. In the figure above, the objective lens and eyepiece serve as converging lenses
that magnify the image, while the prisms act as reflectors that invert the image that was made upside down by
the lenses.
3. Look through the binoculars backwards and observe something very close. What are the
binoculars good for by looking through them backwards?