What happens when you magnify a shadow?  Find out in this interesting investigation that will teach you a lot about light beams.

What you will need:

• A set of different magnifying glasses
• A sheet of graph paper

What you will do:

1 Place the graph paper on a table and lay the magnifying glass flat on top of it.

2 Count how many squares you can see through the magnifying glass.

3 Now lift the magnifying glass up.  Count how many squares you can see now.

4 Try it at different heights—what do you see happening?

5 Try it with different magnifying glasses.  Look closely at the different magnifying glasses and see if you can work out a pattern between the glass and your observations.

What is going on?

As you lift the magnifying glass off the page the light that reflects back off the graph paper changes so the magnifying glass bends the light differently.  Can you describe the pattern?

Monster Challenge:

• Experiment with the magnifying glass looking at different objects in the room. Does this help you observe a pattern?
• Research who invented magnifying glasses and how they did it.

Full Teacher’s Notes are available with this experiment.

Get this experiment here or as part of a bundle of Light Experiments here.