THE SCIENCE LAB

Make & Do Activity Kit

Primary colour light mixer

Experiment and learn about primary and secondary coloured light. You will find that mixing light creates different results from mixing paint.

Time: 20 min + Difficulty: Hint: Create a rich coloured light by

folding the cellophane into lots of layers.
on the torch and point 1. Turn it at a white wall. Wrap the yellow cellophane across your first torch.

the red cellophane 2. Place over the top of the yellow and secure it with a rubber band. what colour does the red and yellow cellophane create?

What you will need:

red, blue, yellow and green cellophane - 20 x 20cm 1 rubber band 3 torches

the blue sheet over the 3. Add top of the first two sheets of cellophane. What colour can you see on the wall?

all the cellophane. 4. Remove Wrap the blue cellophane around the torchlight. Then place the yellow cellophane over the blue. What colour do you see? Add the red sheet of 5. cellophane over the blue. What colour do you see?

experiment placing 6. Now different combinations of cellophane colours on the torch in order to see which colours you can produce. Is it possible to create black?
500 Harris St Ultimo Tel: 02 6217 0111 This work is licensed under the Creative POK346 Box K346 Haymarket NSW 1238 http://play.powerhousemuseum.com This work is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionPO Box Haymarket NSW 1238 Commons Attribution-NonCommercialAustralia Tel: 02 9217 0111 NonCommercial 3.0 Australia (CC BY-NC 3.0 AU) Australia ShareAlikeLicence 2.5 License.

500 Harris St. Ultimo

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http://play.powerhousemuseum.com

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THE SCIENCE LAB

Make & Do Activity Kit

Primary colour light mixer

Page 2

What else can I do? Whats going on?

Primary colours Red, yellow and blue are called primary colours. These are colours that cant be created by mixing other colours. Secondary colours When two primary colours overlap and mix they produce secondary colours. Pigments and light When you mix coloured lights you will notice they produce different colours to when you mix the same colours of pigments, like paints. When you mix light you get very different results to mixing paints. For example: Red + blue = magenta Red + green = yellow Green + blue = cyan Try mixing some primary coloured paints to see the differences between coloured pigments and coloured light. When you mix pigments like paint you can also produce tertiary colours! Tertiary colours A tertiary colour is made by mixing one primary colour and one secondary colour or two secondary colours. For example: Blue + magenta = violet

Recording your results

Use this space to record the primary, secondary and tertiary colours that you have noticed while doing this experiment. Note what colours you mixed to make each colour.

500 Harris St. Ultimo Creative Commons Licence for is use of this workthe Creative 500 Harris St Ultimo Tel: 02 6217 0111 This work licensed under PO PO Box K346 Haymarket NSW 1238 Commons Attribution-NonCommercialBox K346 Haymarket NSW 1238 http://play.powerhousemuseum.com This work is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionAustralia ShareAlike 2.5 License. Australia Tel: 02 9217 0111 NonCommercial 3.0 Australia Licence (CC BY-NC 3.0 AU) http://play.powerhousemuseum.com http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/au/