Light & Color Gallery
Immerse yourself in this vividly engaging exhibit gallery on the properties of light and color. A series of hands-on activities in a specially-designed darkened space use LEDs and new materials to create dramatic, high contrast, and aesthetically beautiful light and color interactives.
In the Light & Color Gallery you will find printed copies of our Exploration Learning Guide for parents and caregivers, a resource of prompts and suggestions to support exploration of the gallery's STEAM topic with your child. You can also review and print the Guide here in one of eight languages prior to your visit, and/or after your visit for ideas for post-visit activities and conversations that reinforce learning:
In This Exhibit
Comic Chameleon
Place objects on a "stage" and scroll through light colors to see how the object's color changes based on the color of light that is shone on it. The special adjustable color LED lights allows you to easily change the colors that are reflected and seen.
Light Rays
Manipulate pencil rays of colored light with mirrors and lenses to focus, reflect, and mix them to various effects.
Colored Shadows
This light table incorporates three colored LED lights which combine to produce white light. Use your hands and various props to create shadow patterns that reveal the colors of light that are mixed together.
Pendulux
Swing a light pendulum suspended over a rotating platter of phosphorescent material to produce a beautiful array of "spirograph" patterns. Change the swing of the pendulum or the speed of the rotating platter and see what happens!
Phosphor Workbench
Use our "lightwriters" to experiment with lighting effects on different types of phosphorescent materials. And, make a frozen shadow!