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PlayOwl

20 topics · Preschool to Grade 8

How light and sound work

Why is the sky blue, and how does a guitar string make a note? These topics explore light and sound. Children bend light with mirrors, magnifying glasses and prisms, see how a periscope looks over a wall, and mix colored light to find out where white light comes from. They watch shadows grow and shrink and find out why some stickers glow in the dark. On the sound side, they follow vibrations through the air, hear echoes, and look inside guitars, pianos, flutes and drums. The last topics explain soundproofing, noise-canceling headphones, resonance and the Doppler effect. Each topic has an animation, a look inside, a simulation to try and a challenge.

  1. 1Watch it
  2. 2Look inside
  3. 3Try it
  4. 4Solve a challenge
  5. 5Go deeper

20 topics in Light & sound

Light & sound

#426 Light & sound How do mirrors form reflections? Trace light rays and compare flat and curved mirrors. #427 Light & sound How does a magnifying glass enlarge things? Move an object and lens and compare image size and focus. #428 Light & sound How does a prism separate colors? Guide white light through a prism and follow different colors' paths. #429 Light & sound How do shadows change size and shape? Move a light and object and compare the resulting shadow. #430 Light & sound How do periscopes let us see over obstacles? Arrange mirrors inside a tube and trace the reflected view. #431 Light & sound How do polarized sunglasses reduce glare? Rotate virtual polarizing filters and compare reflected light passing through them. #432 Light & sound Why is the sky blue and a sunset red? Follow sunlight through different atmospheric paths and explore scattering. #433 Light & sound How do colored lights combine? Overlap red, green, and blue beams to create different colors. #434 Light & sound How do color filters change what we see? Place filters over lights and objects and compare transmitted colors. #435 Light & sound How do glow-in-the-dark materials work? Charge a model material with light and follow its delayed light emission. #436 Light & sound How does sound travel? Follow vibrations through air, water, and solids using animated particles. #437 Light & sound How do echoes happen? Send sound toward different surfaces and compare the returning sound and delay. #438 Light & sound How do guitar strings create different notes? Change string length, tension, and thickness and compare vibrations and pitch. #439 Light & sound How does a piano make music? Follow a key press through a hammer, string, damper, and soundboard. #440 Light & sound How do flutes produce different notes? Open and close holes and explore changing vibrations in an air column. #441 Light & sound How do drums make different sounds? Change membrane tension and drum size and compare vibration patterns. #442 Light & sound How does soundproofing reduce noise? Compare absorption, barriers, and gaps around a model noisy room. #443 Light & sound How do noise-canceling headphones work? Combine a noise waveform with an opposing signal in a simplified model. #444 Light & sound Why does a passing siren change pitch? Move a virtual sound source past a listener and inspect wave spacing. #445 Light & sound How does resonance make vibrations stronger? Drive a model oscillator at different rhythms and compare its response.

Keep exploring

Games to play

  • Mirror MazeBend a beam of light with mirrors to light up every crystal — in the right order.
  • Shadow SculptorStack cubes under three lamps until every shadow matches the outline.
  • Listen and FindOlly whispers a clue or plays a sound. Can you find it in the picture?

Guide for grown-ups

Science games by grade

Science worksheets by grade