Its Time For Science – Water Colour Magic Trick aka Light Refraction

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As a photographer I am aware of Sir Isaac Newton and in particular his work with light prisms, in particular the discovery that light is split into a colour spectrum via a process known as refraction. This same principle happens in reverse with the apparent removal of colour when light is refracted, such as in water.

So we decided to try it and see what happens, and to be honest the result was awesome and total magic.

What You Need

  1. Glass of Water
  2. Sealable Food Bag
  3. Piece of card that will fit into the food bag
  4. Permanent Markers (including black)
Glass of Water, FoodBag, Permanent Markers, Card

What You Do

  1. Draw a picture in solid colours on your card using your coloured markers, DO NOT use black for this part. We drew a scene with a car and some trees
  2. Place the card with your drawing on it in the foodbag and seal it.
  3. Push the cardboard to the bottom of the food bag and using the black marker outline the drawing you did in step 1 on the outside of the food bag.
  4. Lower the sealed food bag with your drawing in it into the cup of water and watch the magic happen. You can also look through the side of the glass and as you move round the colour will disappear.
  • Draw a picture on the card
  • Put the card into the food bag and outline the drawing on the food bag
  • Fill the glass with water
  • Lower the food bag in to the glass of water
  • Boom – Watch the magic happen

We love this experiment and we tried different drawings and more and less colours, just let your imagination run wild and amaze everyone with the colour disappearing before their eyes.

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