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The Disappearing Beaker

SKU #GL-500
Availability:
Backordered until 1/12/2025
*Backordered: 1/12/2025
A great demonstration of 'index of refraction'.

Description

This clear beaker has no markings and bends light to the same degree as cooking oil. The borosilicate glass and the oil have roughly the same index of refraction. When this beaker is immersed into a container of oil, the beaker becomes invisible. Package includes one beaker and instructions. You supply the outer container which can be any clear, colorless container with at least a 4 inch opening.

Drop pieces of broken borosilicate glass into a large container of oil and watch the pieces disappear. Then, using tongs, reach in and remove a previously hidden, unbroken beaker. Ask students to explain.

Video


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Reviews

3 reviews
Disappering Beakers
Review star icon Review star icon Review star icon Review star icon Review star icon Jun 3, 2019
Although quite messy, this is a great one to use for stage shows as well as classroom instruction. We show the audience the placing of a beaker into a large beaker of cooking oil. Then through magic the beaker is transported to another beaker of oil that is on the other side of the room. Magically the beaker is immersed in the oil, which we remove from the second beaker. One pair of my outreach presenters even made a sign with an arrow that was painted with a solution of potassium nitrate. When the arrow was lit at the back end by using a hot stirring rod (which they had decorated) the fire traveled across the the arrow to the tip. When the fire reached the other end, the beaker had completed its magical transportation. It's a great way to teach indices of refraction and to show how light is bent when it changes mediums. Place a regular beaker in the oil and show how it is still visible because the glass does not have the same index of refraction as the oil. Highly recommend a pair.
Kenneth Lyle

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good experiment
Review star icon Review star icon Review star icon Review star icon Review star icon Nov 17, 2012
Regular glass regular vegi oil. no special beaker!
fg

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advancedscienceteacher
Review star icon Review star icon Review star icon Review star icon Review star icon May 29, 2012
the students were amazed. A magical demo with a great science explanation that really helps the students make sense of some tough energy/light/wave related concepts
Janet Sweat

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