Light & Sound

Trace light rays through mirrors, lenses and prisms, mix colours of light, and compare the pitch and loudness of sounds on an oscilloscope: wave behaviour students can change and measure.

8 interactive Integrated Science simulations on light & sound.

Pitch and loudness of sound – comparing two sounds on an oscilloscope Integrated Science · Light & Sound A tuning fork or a string vibrates with a frequency f and amplitude A chosen by the student; an oscilloscope shows... Ages 12–13
Light rays – refraction, total internal reflection and prisms Integrated Science · Light & Sound Four screens: Intro lets you drag a laser across the boundary between two media (including mystery media whose... Ages 14–15
Refraction, total internal reflection and lenses Integrated Science · Light & Sound Top half: a light ray travels from medium n₁ into medium n₂ — drag the light source to change the angle of incidence... Ages 14–15
Molecules and light – rotate, vibrate, glow, break apart Integrated Science · Light & Sound Fire microwave, infrared, visible or ultraviolet photons at individual gas molecules (CO, N2, O2, CO2, H2O, NO2, O3)... Ages 14–15
Reflection on a Plane Mirror, Virtual Image, Umbra and Penumbra Integrated Science · Light & Sound Reflection mode: drag light source S to change the angle of incidence; the reflected ray, the normal, and both... Ages 12–13
Lenses and curved mirrors – ray diagrams Integrated Science · Light & Sound Three screens: Lens (converging or diverging, with the focal length calculated from the radius of curvature and the... Ages 14–15
Sound waves – frequency (pitch) and amplitude (loudness) Integrated Science · Light & Sound A speaker membrane vibrates, causing air particles in a tube to bunch together and spread apart; these compression... Ages 12–13
Color vision – mixing light and color filters Integrated Science · Light & Sound Shine red, green and blue light into an observer's eye and mix them in different proportions to see how the... Ages 14–15