Science Quiz: Refraction, Spectrum, and Light Detectors

Match the following terms to their correct definitions.

• Telescope

• A lens that is thicker in the middle than at the edges and refracts (bends) light rays to focus them

• Microscope

• An instrument that enables scientists to see distant objects.

• Convex lens

• A lens that is thicker at the edges than in the middle and scatters light rays

• Concave lens

• An instrument that enables scientists to see tiny objects.

Answer explanation

Binoculars are also "field glasses." They're two small telescopes put together, one for each eye.

(a)   invented the first telescope when he was holding two spectacle lenses in front of the other. The next year, (b)   improved the simple telescope by using one convex lens and one concave lens.

Later, (c)   invented the reflecting telescope using a concave mirror instead of a lens.

• Hans Lippershey

• Galileo

• Sir Isaac Newton

Answer explanation

One of the early developers of the microscope was Anton van Leeuwenhoek. He discovered that objects could be seen many times their actual size when looked at through a lens.

Place the colors in the great category - warm or cool?

Groups:

(a) Cool Colors

,

(b) Warm Colors

• Violet

• Green
  

• Blue

• Yellow

• Red

• Orange

Match the following eye terms to the great definitions.

• Retina

• Fibers joined together from all parts of the retina into one large bundle; Like a cable carrying messages to the brain

• Iris

• A lining on the inside of your eyeball; Made up of millions of cells that are sensitive to light

• Optic Nerve

• Located in the front of the eyeball, a transparent layer that protects the eye

• Pupil

• Changes the size of the pupil when necessary, so that your eyes do not receive too much light; May be blue, brown, gray, green, or hazel

• Cornea

• Little black opening in the center of the eye that allows light to enter

Behind the pupil of your eye is a (a)   lens, thicker in the middle than at the edge, that refracts the light it receives and focuses it for you. It becomes thicker when you look at close objects and thinner when you look at distant ones.

• convex

• concave

Answer explanation

Tiny muscles in your eyes make these changes automatically.

You are (a)   if you are unable to focus on distant objects and need glasses with (b)   lenses to spread out light rays.

If you are able to see distant things, but close objects look blurred, you are (c)   . This can be helped with glasses containing (d)   lenses that focus light on the retina instead of behind it.

• nearsighted

• concave

• farsighted

• convex

An object will look (a)   to our eyes if it reflects all the colors of the spectrum.

If all the colors of the spectrum are absorbed by an object, the object will look (b)   .

• white

• black

Answer explanation

An object that is white sends all colors to our eyes, while a black object sends no colors at all.

Some objects absorb some of the colors of the spectrum and reflect others. A red flower absorbs most of the colors of light but reflects red which is why the flower looks red to you.

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS4-2

A transparent object that separates colors in white light by bending them at different angles is called a ______.

• lens
• spectrum

• prism
• ultraviolet light

Answer explanation

Sir Isaac Newton discovered a wonderful secret about light: The white light of the sun is a mixture of colored lights!

The series of colored bands created when sunlight is separated is called the ______.

• lenses

• prism
• ultraviolet light

• spectrum

Answer explanation

We can only see part of the sun's light, and the rest is invisible to our eyes. Beyond the red end of the spectrum is (a)   , which heats the objects it strikes. Beyond the other end of the spectrum, (b)   , causes tanning and sunburn.

• infrared light

• ultraviolet light