Magic Glass Experiment--Easy!

We whipped out our Giant Book of Science Experiments again this morning. We bought this book for $1 from Half Price Books and I can't believe how much use we have gotten out of it!

Today, we tried the super-easy, Magic Glass Experiment. All that you need for this experiment is a quarter, a glass jar, and water.

To begin the experiment, you place the quarter under the empty glass jar. Your little
scientist should observe that we can see the quarter.

Next, fill the jar with water. **Note: I let my daughter do this on her own, but she needed help carrying the jar.** Place the full jar over the quarter.

Have your scientist make an observation about what they see. Now, you should not clearly see the quarter and just see a metal sheen on the bottom of the jar.

 

When we first observed the jar without the water, the light rays reflecting off of the coin traveled to our eyes along the normal path. After we added the water, the rays were reflected back to the bottom of the glass after hitting the water at an angle. This created the sheen appearance on the bottom of the 

 jar.

For other experiment ideas, try the Easy Static Electricity Experiment or the Pretty Water Lily Experiment.