Light Display We can make all sorts of

Light Display We can make all sorts of amazing displays using light. From fireworks and laser light shows, to lava lamps or Christmas decorations on our houses, we use light to decorate and amaze. Today we are going to create our very own liquid light show! Prepare to be amazed! Let’s find out how…

What You Need • Clear plastic bottle with all the labels peeled off. • duct tape • masking tape • a dark room • a pencil • sink or bucket • a torch • a drawing pin • food colouring

What to Do 1 Place a 5 cm piece of duct tape on the side of the bottle, about a third of the way up. 2 Use the drawing pin to pierce a hole in the centre of the tape. 3 Stick a piece of masking tape over the hole in the bottle. 4 Fill the bottle with water and add a few drops of food colouring. 5 Turn on the torch and turn out the lights.

6 With one hand, hold the bottle over the bucket or the edge of the sink. 7 With your other hand, hold the torch on the opposite side of the bottle from the hole. 8 Remove the masking tape. How does the light enter the bottle and what does it do as it comes out of the hole? 9 Now place the tip of the pencil into the hole you have already made and push it in a little to make the hole a little larger.

Here’s What’s Happening… The torch is our light source at the back of the bottle. When the water streams out of the hole at the opposite side of the bottle, the light is shone towards it. The light travels straight across the bottle, because light travels in straight lines. However, as the water bends downwards as it flows out, the light also bends within the water and carries the light along the flow to give us an amazing light display. This is the same idea used in fibre optics.