ALL ABOARD: WE’RE GATHERING STEAM

Source: gosciencekids.com

Exploring magical drawings with light refraction is a fun ‘magic’ science trick that even little kids can do. This science experiment is easy to do almost anywhere!

Materials

• Glass of water
• Paper (or paper napkin works if you’re at a restaurant)
• Pen or marker

Directions

• Draw something on a piece of paper, and see how it looks when you look through a glass of water. You don’t have to limit it to arrows. Be creative! You can draw anything you like and see how it looks through the glass.
• Questions to ponder: How does your picture change? What bits stay the same? Does image size matter? What happens if you try with a wider (or narrower) glass? What happens if you move the glass closer to the image? Or further away? You could use a ruler to measure the distances and record your results. Does it change if you look at it straight on or slightly from the side?
• A fun idea is to draw a picture of a face, with the eyes looking one way, and see which way the eyes are looking when you look through the glass.