There are various types of mirages possible, the details depending on whether the hot air is above or below the cool air and how sharp the transition is from cool to warm. This demonstration simulates what happens when a dark asphalt road...
A beam of light is distorted due to turbulent convection currents in air. This is a model of atmospheric distortion that affects seeing conditions in ground based optical and infrared astronomy.
A beam of white light incident on a giant raindrop (simulated by a water-filled round flask) produces a full rainbow of colors. As with real rainbows, one can also see that the light intensity inside the rainbow is much greater than outside...
What it shows: A mechanical analogy of a wave front consisting of two wheels linked by an axle. It simulates refraction by rolling across a boundary between two surfaces having different rolling friction and thus altered propagation velocities.
All colors can be created from a combination of the three primary colors of red, green and blue. The secondary colors of cyan, magenta and yellow are created from a combination of two primaries, and white light is perceived from the...
