Refractive Index – 6A40.00

Disappearing Beaker – 6A40.30

  • A large beaker is filled half-way with ordinary vegetable oil.
  • A small beaker is slowly lowered into the oil.
  • The beaker will “disappear” as it is lowered.
  • This is due to the fact that Pyrex and vegetable oil have the same index of refraction.

Location: Jacobs B122

Disappearing Ball in a Beaker – 6A40.31

Disappearing Ball in a Beaker 6A4031-1

Disappearing Ball in a Beaker 6A4031-2

  • A beaker is filled half-way with water.
  • A gel ball is lowered in the beaker. The gel balls come in very small sizes.  They are soaked in water for 24 hours before they are used.
  • The ball will “disappear” in the water.

Location: Jacobs B122 – Shelf 264

Optical Properties of a Submerged Light Bulb – 6A40.40

SubmLightBulb_6A4040

  • Submerge a 60 W frosted light bulb in a beaker filled with water.
  • The frosted part becomes smaller and the glass envelope becomes much larger.
  • The coating allows the inner glass surface to have total internal reflection.

Location: Jacobs B122  – Shelf 275