Galileo's Telescope and the Phases of the Moon
Materials
- 1 eyeglass lens (low grade or grade less)
- 1 magnifying glass
- 1 long paper towel roll
- Wax Paper
- Scissors
- Scotch tape
Instructions:
1. Remove all the paper towels from the roll, and take the brown cardboard center.
2. Use the brown center of the paper towel roll and trace a round shape on the wax paper. Cut this shape out.
3. Stick the piece of paper into the paper towel roll, trying to keep it upright so that it “blocks” the holes. Try to position the wax paper a third of the way through the roll.
4. On the end which is closer to the wax paper, use the scotch tape to position the magnifying glass over the hole.
5. On the other end of the roll, use the scotch tape to stick the eyeglass lens over the hole.
6. Use your telescope and check to see what it can magnify.
You may need to use varying lengths of brown cardboard rolls to get the correct focus for the telescope. This is because proper focusing is dependent on the distance between the magnifying glass and the eyeglass lens. The wax paper is placed inside the cardboard roll in order to prevent the projection of an upside down image. Camera obscura or the shifting of a picture to the right side is what the wax paper will try to do (and will successfully do if the distances are correct.) The concept of camera obscura may be a bit difficult for your child to understand in the first grade because it has to do with how light isrefracted through lenses. However, discussing what the wax paper is there for can help them understand the concept when they study it.
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