Jello Lasers
Not quite Sharks With Lasers.
However, jello makes an excellent medium that kids can use to design and
create lenses to explore properties of light.
 |
 |
|---|---|
| Internal Refraction | Angle change |
In honor of Dr. Donna Strickland
2018 Nobel prize winner in Physics for creating the technique of Chirped Pulse Amplification(CPA) for lasers, where a laser is pulsed over a short time to increase it’s power!
Objective
Explore properties of lenses and light
Material
- Jello: 5 packages
- Plain gelatin
- Lasers
- Cookie cutters (optional)
- Disposable table cloth (optional)
Challenge Materials (Optional)
- Bulls eye
- Cookie sheet to contain the challenge experiment
- Masking tape
Difficulty
Easy and safe
Mess Factor
High. Disposable table cloth should be used since you will get Jello everywhere.
Pointers
Do add a challenge, otherwise this becomes pure play. Which is not bad, but if you want them to learn more then a challenge is needed.
- Make the jello thick like Jello jigglers. The jello needs to be able to stand up on its own.
- One packet of Jello with one packet of plain gelatin works well.
- Set the jello on a cookie sheet. Easier to cut into lenses
- Make lots of jello. More than you think you need.
Challenge
RULEs:
- Laser starts at the starting point
- Laser must hit the end point
- Use any shape of Jello
- Laser must stay within the cookie sheet
- You can only use the Jello to bend the light.
Bend light 90 degrees and hit a target
- Place the masking tape on one side of the cookie sheet to indicate the start point.
- Place another piece of tape on a another side to indicate the goal.
Bend light 180 degrees and hit a target.
