Kids Science Experiments - Kids Senses

Senses Experiment

Make a Pinhole Camera - Seeing is believing!

Materials you will need:

• Tin can with small hole at sealed end
• Small piece of card •Large sewing needle
• Sellotape
• Small nail
•Hammer (optional)
• Wax or Tracing Paper
•Rubber Band
•Light bulb (filament)

Steps:

1. Either puncture the sealed end of a tin can used a hammer and small nail (be sure you have adult supervision)

2. Cut out a square piece of wax paper slightly bigger that the end of the tin can so that you can wrap it completely around the end of the can.

3. Place the wax paper over the open end of the tin can and place a rubber band around it to hold it in place

4. Cut out a small piece of card to place on top of the small hole that you made at the other end of the tin can.

5. Using a large sewing needle make a tiny hole in the piece of card and place the pin in the hole and sellotape to tin can. (remove the sewing needle)

6. Turn on you filament light bulb and hold you pinhole camera so that the tiny hole side is closet to the light bulb and look at the wax paper to see if you can see the image of the bulb on the wax paper.

A pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens and with a single small aperture – basically a light-proof box with a small hole on one end. Light from a scene passes through the small hole and projects an upside down image on the opposite side of the tin can or box. In bright lights our eyes acts similarly, as do cameras using small apertures.

The principle of a pinhole camera is that light rays from an object pass through a small hole to form an image.

Up to a point, the smaller the hole, the sharper the image, but the dimmer the projected image.

Solargraphy is to capture the movement of the sun over a long period of time by using a pinhole camera.

Try doing this experiment outside using the lighting from the sun but do not look directly into the sunlight.

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Kids Science Experiments - Pinhole Camera