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Optical Illusions

Akiyoshi's Illusion Pages, Colorcube, Counter-Rotating Spirals Illusion, Crazy Images, Eluzions' Optical Illusions, Eye Magic, Eyetricks.com, Eyetricks.com: Optical Illusions, Illusion Works, Khushboo's Virtual Escher Gallery

Color and Color Vision

http://www.yorku.ca/eye/color.htm

Explains additive and subtractive colour mixing, the mixing of wavelengths, Newton's dispersion of white light to show the colours of the rainbow.

Colorworm Explains Color

http://php.iupui.edu/~pellison/colorworm/home.html

An online book about light and color for all ages. Explains the electromagnetic spectrum, visible light, RGB, CMYK, light, and mixing paint colors.

How Does a Pinhole Camera Work?

http://www.howstuffworks.com/question131.htm

Explains the principles behind the pinhole camera.

How Light Works

http://www.howstuffworks.com/light.htm

Explains light in terms of photons to explain reflection, refraction and absorption.

How we see Colour

http://www.colourtherapyhealing.com/colour/colour_perception.php

Explains human perception of colour and optical illusions in depth with clear diagrams.

Java Applet

http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/java/light/flashLight.html

Java applet exploring reflection and refraction of light beam and laser beam.

Light and Colour

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/health_/colour.htm

Explains how we see colour and discusses the mixing of frequencies.

Light and Optics: Online Meteorology Guide

http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/opt/home.rxml

Introduces optical effects resulting from light interaction with air, dust and haze particles, ice crystals and water droplets.

Light Refraction

http://id.mind.net/~zona/mstm/physics/light/rayOptics/refraction/refraction1.html

Uses example of sphere on a checkerboard to show how light is refracted.

Molecular Expressions: Science, Optics and You

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/

Timeline, interactive java applets showing various properties of light and lenses, tutorials, and other links for students.

Optics 4 Kids

http://www.optics4kids.org/

Tells about the science of light and answers common questions. Also explores careers in optics. From the Optical Society of America.

Optics for Kids

http://www.opticalres.com/kidoptx.html

An overview of the basics of optics, also discusses careers in science and engineering.

Optics for Kids

http://www.opticsforkids.org/index.cfm

Includes a section on careers in optics, vision and color, optics in nature, optics and laser lab, and biomedical and health applications.

Skytopia - Colour and Light Trivia

http://www.skytopia.com/project/light/light.html

Amusing guide lists various oddities about colour and light. Find trivia on 3D, mirrors, light bulbs, and contradictions about the perception of colour.

The Electromagnetic Spectrum

http://imagers.gsfc.nasa.gov/ems/ems.html

From NASA, an overview of the different types of electromagnetic waves.

The Reflection and Refraction of Light

http://physics.bu.edu/~duffy/PY106/Reflection.html

Uses geometry to predict reflection from plane and spherical mirrors, and looks at how speed and wavelength varies with different media.

The Speed of Light

http://www.what-is-the-speed-of-light.com/

Defines the speed of light and describes how man learned to measure it. Includes interactive quiz.

What Makes an Object Coloured

http://www.colourtherapyhealing.com/colour/objects_and_colour.php

Explains principles of reflection, refraction, absorption and transmission to explain how objects are a particular colour.