Learning how to bend light at the Orlando Science Center
Check out this fun activity on this week’s The Science of It, where young minds can learn about reflection and refraction
ORLANDO, Fla. —
It’s July, and that means it’s “Phenomena Month” at the Orlando Science Center — a monthlong celebration of the science behind everyday (and not-so-everyday) occurrences.
Today’s goal: get the laser beam from one airport to the other without moving the map itself — only the angle of the light.
The trick is in two physics concepts most people haven’t thought about since a high school classroom: reflection and refraction. One redirects light. The other bends it.
Mirrors handle the redirecting. Point a laser at a mirror’s surface, and the beam bounces off at a matching angle, letting you steer it around corners without changing its color or speed.
Prisms do something different. As light passes through the angled glass, it slows down and bends — refraction — sending the beam off in a new direction depending on the angle it entered. Watching where the light exits the far side of the prism, sometimes with a hand held up as a makeshift screen, is the only way to track where it’s headed next.
Working the course meant chaining both effects together: send the beam through a prism, catch the bend with a mirror, redirect it again with a second mirror, and repeat until the light finally lands on target.
The next time you’d want to learn about physics, head to the Orlando Science Center!