See the Light
sunlight shining on green landscape

The Sun's energy lights our world.

Light  is an essential part of our lives. Without it, we couldn't see the world around us. Light is also an important form of energy  that we depend on every day. But how does light reach us? And how does it affect the way we see our world?

Like us, light actually moves from one place to another. Of course, we don't see it move because it's incredibly fast — at 186,000 miles a second, light is the fastest thing in the  Universe!  Light always travels in straight lines, or rays, unless it bends or bounces off an object's surface. We see light moving every day, through reflection, refraction, and every color around us.

Try out these three simple activities and see first-hand how light refracts, reflects, and disperses into different colors.

button with word Reflection
button with word Refraction
white button with words Color of Light
Image credits

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Image Credits:

Sunlit landscape by Sherry Wright via Unsplash; all other images, courtesy of AMNH