This experiment involves an item purchased in a shop that is believed to be dark blue but when taken home turns out to be black. This experiment is to investigate the differences between natural light and artificial light. Artificial light and natural light can vary the way that our eyes see the color of something. Natural light is just light produced by the sun but artificial light includes light from electric devices, fluorescent lights and light bulbs. When artificial light is being used some items of clothing may appear a lighter color than what they really are. Fluorescent lights can give off a green, pink, red or yellow tinge that changes how we see colors of clothes.

Equipment:

Several different colored fabrics (must include black and dark blue), different colored light (red, yellow and green), a normal light bulb and a light box.

Procedure:

1. Collect different colored fabrics, light lenses and light box
2. Turn on light box in a shaded area
3. Test each fabric under normal light
4. Test each fabric under the three different colored lights
5. Write down results

Hypothesis:

This experiment will hope to show the ways that artificial light differs from natural light. This experiment will hope to have accurate results by having multiple testing with the different lights. I predict that in this experiment that all of the artificial colors we test will change the color of the fabric somehow and that the fabric will be the true color under the natural light. I predict that the yellow and red light will have the most change on the black fabric and will make it seem dark blue and I also predict that the yellow light will make the dark blue fabric a slightly lighter shade of blue.

Results:

In this experiment we did a test of the two different fabrics using three artificial colored lights and one normal light bulb.

As the results show in this experiment the black fabric looks dark blue when under most kinds of fluorescent light, has a greenish tinge under the green light and looks a lighter shade of black when under a normal light bulb. The Dark Blue Fabric looks a lighter blue when under the yellow artificial light, duller when under the red light and it has no obvious change of color when under the normal light bulb.

Conclusion:

This experiment has clearly shown in its results that most kinds of artificial light alter the color of fabrics or objects. To find out the true color of an object you would have to look at it under natural light like the sun. This experiment supported my hypothesis because the black fabric did appear dark blue when under some artificial lights and the dark blue fabric did look a lighter color under the yellow light. This experiment shows that any artificial lights may affect the way our eye interprets colors.

The experiment involves a coin that is placed into a cup and a person stands so he just cannot see the coin. Then when water is added to the cup it appears that the coin moves into view. This experiment all has to do with refraction, which in this experiment is when the light rays hit the water it causes the speed and wave length of the ray to change. This then bends the direction of the light ray slightly and makes the coin appear to move into view. Light refraction mostly occurs only when light travels through a different object or substance also known as a medium. Water is denser then air so when light travels through water it causes the wavelength to decrease in size and bend. The reason the light ray bends towards the coin in the cup is because when light refracts it bends towards the normal.

Equipment:

Procedure:

1. Collect plastic cup, beaker, coin and some blue tack
2. Fill beaker to top with water
3. Use small piece of blue tack to stick the coin to the center of the bottom of the cup
4. Stand so you just cannot see the coin over the edge of the cup
5. Get someone to pour water from beaker into cup until you can see part of the coin
6. Empty leftover water in the beaker and pour water from the plastic cup into beaker
7. Write down results of how many ml it took until you could see coin

Hypothesis:

This experiment will hope to show the illusion of the reappearing coin. This experiment will hope to have only one variable (the amount of water put into the cup) and therefore show accurate results. I predict that in this experiment it will take more than 30ml of water as I think that this will not fill the cup enough to refract the light towards the coin. So my initial prediction will be that it will take around 60ml of water before the observer will be able to see the coin.

Results:

In this experiment so we could try and get the most accurate results we did three tests with each of the three people in my group. The results are as follows:

As the results show in this experiment the average ml of water needed to refract the light onto the coin was around 50ml. Also not shown in the results are other things we learned. Including that the more water you put into the cup the more of the coin you can see. And if you put any less then 46 to 50ml you will not be able to see the coin at all.

Conclusion:

This experiment clearly has shown in its results that it needs around 50ml to see the coin. This was close to my prediction of 60ml and I was correct that it would not be visible at 30ml of water. This experiment has demonstrated some of the ways refraction works. I think this experiment has been accurate because we only had 1 variable for each person and we did the test numerous times to make sure it was correct and all the results are around the same mark.

IQ tests were originally intended to identify and assess children with special needs. Nowadays the most recognised use for IQ tests is for entry into high IQ societies such as Mensa.

It is often argued that you are born with a certain IQ which is genetically predetermined and there is very little you can do to increase your IQ by any significant amount.

The University of Edinburgh carried out a recent study on over 5,000 into whether or not a mother's breast milk has any influence on a child's intelligence. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a mother's breast milk was found to little or no influence on a child's IQ.

However, other studies in the past have proven that genetics is not the only influencing factor on intelligence.

A study referred to as The Milwaukee Project was carried out in the late 1960s by the University of Wisconsin . The subjects were 40 newborn babies in a deprived area of Milwaukee and all of the subjects' mothers had an IQ of less than 80. Half of the babies received a special education and “home based enrichment” for the first 6 years of their lives while the other half who were the control group received no such advantages.

At the age of 6 the average IQ of the children in the experiment was 120.7 while the average IQ of the children in the control group was just 87.2.

Another experiment carried out in the US was at Glenwood State School . The experiment involved 25 children in a deprived and overcrowded orphanage. Thirteen children were taken away to Glenwood State School to be placed with substitute mothers who cared for them and gave them intellectual stimulation. These children had an average IQ of just 64. For the purposes of the study, the other twelve children were the control group and had an average IQ of 87.

Four years later, 11 out of the 13 children at Glenwood had been adopted and now had an average IQ of 101 which is slightly above average while the children who had been left behind in the orphanage had experienced a dramatic decrease in their IQ to an average of just 66 which is in the bottom 2% of the population.

The general consensus is that IQ is 50% heritable and 50% dependent on environment and as proven by the Glenwood State School experiment the quality of a children's environment can make the difference between being in the bottom 2% and the top 50%.