Color Mixing

 

In this open-ended experiment station, visitors participate in a classic physics experiment in color theory. A light source sends a controlled beam of light through a fixed prism that bends and separates the light beam. The visitor then slides two different frames across a track into or out of the path of the light beam. These frames, which include an array of slits and lenses, manipulate the light and cause different colors to mix on the wall behind the exhibit. For example, the slits block colors from one part of the spectrum, while the lenses shift parts of the light spectrum up and down to form an overlapping pattern of two or three colors on the screen. Through experimentation with the different elements of this exhibit, visitors discover that white light is actually made up of separate components that combine to form the colors we see.