Magical Rainbow

🎂 4 + years ⏱️ 15 min 📍 Sunny place ⭐ easy

Everyone loves rainbows, right? They are like painted stripes in the sky after a rain shower. But where do these colors actually come from? These colors are created by something we call "refraction of light." When sunlight hits a water droplet, it splits into different colors, just like in a rainbow. In our experiment, a mirror is placed in water and reflects sunlight onto a white piece of paper. The water acts like the raindrops in the air and divides the light into its various colors. It's a great experiment that you can even do at home. You will learn how light works, how a rainbow is formed, and how you can conduct a scientific experiment yourself.

What you'll need

Shallow bowl with water
Pocket mirror
White sheet of paper
Sunlight

How it works

Fill the shallow bowl about halfway with water. Carefully place the pocket mirror in the water so that it sticks out and can catch the sunlight.
You need to take the bowl to a place where there is plenty of sunlight. Tip: You can do this experiment outside or at a window with lots of sunlight. Make sure the mirror can catch the sunlight.
Hold the white sheet of paper close to the mirror. You can move the paper until you see the reflected rays of light from the mirror on it.
You should now see a beautiful rainbow on the white sheet of paper! Don't forget to observe the colors. Can you recognize all the colors of the rainbow?