Supported by:The Oakdale TrustThe Mr & Mrs J T Morgan Foundation

Water has many uses due to its amazing properties. One use is as a lens. A lens is an object we use to focus light with in order to see things differently. We already know that water can bend light so lets see if it’s any good as a lens…

Arrow experiment Lenses can be made of many different materials.

Even a glass of water is a simple lens.

You will need • a glass of water

Try this…Place the arrows on this page behind the glass of water.

Look at the arrows through the glass of water.

Which way are the arrows pointing now?

What’s happening?The arrows should appear reversed.

This is similar to the way lenses work.

Word Experiment

You will need• a test tube• a bung• some water

Try this…Fill the test tube to the top with water and insert the bung. Hold the test tube horizontally over the words.

Move the tube up and down (towards and away from your eyes) until you can read the words.

What has happened to the words onthe right hand side?

Has this happened to the words on the left hand side?

Look carefully at the letters on theleft hand side. Why do they appear to

have not changed.

BOOK WAY

DIOXIDE PRAM

HIDE MUST

DEED SAY

CODE STAR

What’s happening?We already know that water can act as a lens, but whyis it only flipping some of the words?

The truth is that both sides are actually flipping but thewords on the left are made up of letters that aresymmetrical and will appear the same when flipped.

How many words can you make that won’t look up sidedown when you look through your homemade lens?

Optical illusion or not?You decide!