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As you probably know, astronomers use the distance that light travels in a year as a standard measuring stick for calculating the largest distances in the Universe. The nearest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri, measures 4.22 light-years from Earth. The center of the Milky Way Galaxy is 26,000 light-years away. The nearest large galaxy, Andromeda, is 2.5 million light-years away.

Recall what you observed in the "disappearing glass" demo. The stirring rod submerged in glycerin appeared to be invisible! In theory, if two materials have exactly the same refractive index, the light passes through without any (or minimal) scattering or refraction. The light travels straight because it cannot detect any difference in the two materials, hence the speed of the travelling light does not change (bend).

A quick video introduction to infrared light and how it is different from visible light.

"We are in the process of looking at some of our favorite activities and figuring out ways to share some of our ideas about them with after-school centers and other spaces outside of the tinkering studio. Light painting is an exploration that we have returned to again and again in a variety of settings. A starting point for thinking about materials, environment, and next steps can be found in the PDF document that Walter made for the PIE project (a precursor to the Tinkering Studio). I wanted to share some of the assumptions that we've confirmed and new ideas that have come up in the past few years of trying the activity in the tinkering studio space on the museum floor."

Looking at water and ice with infrared light helps us understand how light and heat are related.

the new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is designed for detecting infrared radiation. This animation explains what infrared light is, and how the JWST will use it. Please rate and comment, thanks!

This quiz could be used as a building block for another quiz about the speed of light.

"Solar System debris rains down on Earth in vast quantities - more than a hundred tons of it a day. Most of it vaporizes in our atmosphere, leaving stunning trails of light we call shooting stars. More hazardous are the billions, likely trillions, of leftover rocks - comets and asteroids - that wander interplanetary space in search of targets. Most asteroids are made of rock. The rest are metal, mostly iron. Some are rubble piles - gravitationally bound collections of bits and pieces. Most live between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter and will never come near Earth. But some do. Some will. More than a thousand known asteroids are classed as "potentially hazardous," based on size and trajectory. Currently, it looks doable to develop an early-warning and defense system that could protect the human species from impactors larger than a kilometer wide. Smaller ones, which reflect much less light and are therefore much harder to detect at great distances, carry enough energy to incinerate entire nations, but they don't put the human species at risk of extinction."

How the Eye Functions - Diagrams of structure of the human eye. How light waves are refracted by lens of eye & focused on the retina. The lens, its position & changes in curvature. Monocular & binocular vision, retina and function.

Another video on infrared light.

National Geographic Channel is taking viewers around the world-literally-in this spectacular two-hour television event broadcasting LIVE from the International Space Station (ISS) and Mission Control in Houston, Texas. Made in collaboration with NASA, we'll go into orbit with astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Koichi Wakata as they fly at 17,500 mph nearly 250 miles above the earth's surface on the International Space Station, while astronaut Mike Massimino joins host Soledad O'Brien on the ground at Mission Control in Houston. From space, Mastracchio and Wakata will give viewers a fully guided tour, showing us how they live for months in microgravity. They'll conduct never-before-broadcast experiments that demonstrate the real-world value of the science conducted on the floating laboratory. Plus get ready for stunning shots of Earth, from sunset and sunrise, to city lights and green aurora, to lightning storms and shooting stars. You've never seen our planet like this before.

A Steve Spangler video experiment that might be good for teaching students about the Law of Conservation of Energy. Involves making a solar powered oven to convert light energy to heat energy to cook S'mores.

Our resident science fiends will give the YouTube audience their big science treat each week with a live experiment where you can find out how to make food dance, power a light bulb with household objects and blow mega smoke rings!

Discover the hormones that dictate whether a plant grows downwards with gravity, towards water and nutrients, or upwards towards light.
For more films like this visit www.twig-world.com

Discover the hormones that dictate whether a plant grows downwards with gravity, towards water and nutrients, or upwards towards light.
For more films like this visit www.twig-world.com

"We love to see what microwaves do to common household items. We've shrunk potato chip bags and turned Ivory Soap into a fluffy soap souffle. What more could we want to do? We heard that it's possible to actually make a lightbulb light-up if you do it right. And sure enough, we figured it out."

What does Pikachu have to do with your eyes? Find out in 10 things you didn't know about your eyes.

Music= Around the World by Terry Devine-King

If you look through your glasses, binoculars or a window, you see the world on the other side. How is it that something so solid can be so invisible? Mark Miodownik melts the scientific secret behind amorphous solids.

A REALLY cool experiment for showing kids the properties of reflection and refraction that uses Pyrex beakers, vegetable oil and Pyrex test tubes.

This is one of those questions which four year old's ask all the time. Also i would like to point out that there are plenty of other videos which address this question. However many of those fail to explain it in detail. This video covers many of those small details. I have been reading a lot about it. And while i was at it, many more questions came into picture, like why is the sun yellow, why are clouds white, why are oceans blue, etc. I have tried to cover up as much as possible in this video. I'll include all useful links below.