Geek Celebrates Hanukkah With Science: Day Eight

It’s been another wonderful science-driven holiday season! We’ve experimented with balloons that blast-off, nearly unsinkable dinghies, delicious math candies, stackable liquids, desiccated dancers, split light, and put a minature Jaques Cousteau in a bottle. Tonight we’re going to give Hanukkah a fine send-off with another trick of the light.

 

I got the idea for this experiment, not from the internet or a science book, but from a simple game I developed to teach my five year-old about angles. We call it the Acute Obtuse game, and all it takes to play is a ball and a wall. But balls aren’t the only bounce-able toys. It’s easy to turn wall-ball into flashlight geometry.

 

The instructions for this experiment are simple (materials are in bold):

  • Draw a target on a paper plate, and tape it to a wall or ceiling.
  • Using modeling clay, stand a discarded CD upright on a paper plate.
  • Turn out the lights in the room.
  • Shine a flashlight on the CD and try to angle it so the reflected light hits the target.
  • For more fun, use a laser pointer and multiple CDs to hit targets hidden behind obstacles!
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