Why do we see white or grey when the colour wheel spins?
The human eye and brain can see and perceive about 30 frames per second, similar to a video camera. Each resultant perception is known as ‘integration’ time. So, when the disc is still we have plenty of time to see and perceive all of the colours. However, when the spin rate increases all three, or all six, colours pass by our eye in one ‘integration’. Our eyes and brain therefore add all of the colours together, so we see a solid grey with a six-colour wheel, or white with a three-colour (red, blue and green) wheel.
The colour mixing disc in this pack allows you to easily see and understand this process. We know that yellow and blue make green, so spin the colour mixing disc and our eyes and brain do the mixing for us.
What sort of activities and discussions might the colour wheel spark in the classroom?
Our spinner can create all sorts of special effects and there are templates on our website that allow the class to create their own colour wheel disc, different optical illusion discs or different colour mixing discs. This is, truly, science made simple, magic and cool at just £3.99 for the blister card set or £24.99 for the school set of ten spinners, each with eight discs.
What do practical resources such as this bring to primary science lessons?
If the key to a great lesson is knowledge firmly gained, then that knowledge must come with a fun, memorable activity. This is why we have taken great care to produce a base that spins easily, longer and faster, allowing most children to access the activity with ease.
The pack features a super spinner and seven pre-printed discs, each with a special effect. Re-create Sir Isaac Newton’s colour wheel experiment and see colour disappear completely from the disc or combine to form different colours entirely. Another disc with straight lines magically turns into a circle and a spiral disc seems to go out to infinity. The set also includes a bonus ‘Spin-the-Bottle’ disc which can be used for a variety of reasons from deciding who clears the dishes to whose turn it is to go online and order another set.
Watch our launch video: – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyzLoEFGAwo&feature=youtu.be
To order click here – https://educationharbour.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=63&product_id=59
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