Does anyone have ny ideas for i science experiment? involving the little red laser pointers. im in 8th grade.....please helpppp!!! i would like to do "how long does it take for a laser pointer take to burn through different leaves" anyways help!. Created by Janine H. science-mathematics-en - other-science-en

laser science experiments.?

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Well, your little red laser pointer will not burn through leaves. But one thing you could consider doing is a polarization experiment. Take your little red laser and shine it at some polarized sun-glasses. Then rotate the laser or the sun glasses and see if it makes a difference (it should). You could also shine the laser at an angle (say 45 degrees) to a piece of glass and look at the reflection. Then you could rotate the laser and see if the reflection changes strength (it should). To understand this, look up Brewster's angle on wikipedia or google. Put those two things together and you would have a pretty strong (but easy) experiment.

For something easier, try shining it through different colored liquids. You could put red food coloring in a glass of water and see if it comes out the other side. Then try it with blue food coloring. Then try it with a drop of red and a drop of blue food coloring. Compare different amounts and colors of food coloring. Then explain.

I think either of those would be good. But the first one is probably more at the high school level.

Anonymous

Yes. They're too stupid to understand it though. I've heard them argue that with the Earth rotating at 1,000 mph by the time the laser traveled all the way there and back the receiving station would be miles away from the point the receiver is at. They also like to point out how hard it would be to hit such a tiny target with a tiny little laser beam. When you point out that laser beams spread with distance and by the time the beam reaches the Moon it's several KILOMETERS wide they just ignore it. You don't have to "hit" the reflectors dead on. Just get within a few kilometers. Likewise by the time the beam returns it's kilometers wide. Well within the distance the receiving station would have traveled due to the Earth's rotation. They just can't quite seem to grasp that simple concept. They think the people from all over the world who have been using the reflectors for decades are all part of the hoax. But, they wouldn't be conspiracy theorists if they were smart now would they?