There is a glass inside this glass. Dr. Latha Gerheart, chemistry professor at Presbyterian College, shows first graders at Clinton Elementary School on Friday how a glass beaker filled with crystals can “disappear” inside a larger breaker filled with a heavy fluid. The inside beaker is still there, Gearheart said, its disappearance is “an optical illusion.”

Provided by the Clinton Chronicle

For the first time, state education standards say science must be taught early in South Carolina schools. Really early.

First grade early.

What better way to teach part of the broad field of science than to invite over scientists from the local college? That’s what Clinton Elementary School did Friday, as chemistry professor Dr. Latha Gearheart and a troop of Presbyterian College scientists presented a lesson on light to first graders.

Students in Lorrie Boling’s first grade class marveled at rainbows, laser pointer light splitting from one beam into three, adding two colors to get one color, and how a beaker containing crystals can turn “invisible” in another beaker of liquid.

“Light bounces off things and allows us to see the edges,” Gearheart explained to the fledgling scientists. “In light, when you mix all the colors together you get white. It’s not like paint, where is you mix all the colors together you get kind of a (yucky) brown.”

Mixing colors – red and blue magenta – was part of the lesson. Gearheart said in PC science, one of the courses is “Chemistry in Art.”

“Light travels like a wave,” the scientist explained in showing refraction. When something interrupts the wave, it splits – like the way clouds affect light from a sunset, causing “beams” of light.

Gearheart told the students he is a laser chemist, working with a form of light used in cell phones, microwaves and TV remotes.

Sunscreen protects against what kind of light, the class was asked. They got this one right – ultraviolet light. X-rays, a form of light, allow doctors to see inside the human body – the kids knew that one, too.

They were stumped about what kind of light produced The Incredible Hunk, but they did really well figuring out when two primary colors are mixed, what new color is produced. Gearheart demonstrates that second one with a light box.

Turn it, color will turning dark. Students in Lorrie Boling’s first grade class at Clinton Elementary School get hands-on instruction in science – notably, the chemistry of light – with filters, laser pointers and beakers brought to the class by Dr. Latha Gearheart of the Presbyterian College chemistry department. Gearheart led a troop of PC science students in making in-class visits Friday to demonstrate the properties of light.

The kids were able to hold different filters up to the light and see colors, light and dark, and a rainbow. The disappearing beaker – a glass inside a bigger glass – is produced by “an optical illusion,” Gearheart said, as a heavy liquid slows down the light waves moving through the glass.

And, just in case you’re asked on a test or at a party, The Incredible Hulk turns from human to big greenie (when he gets angry) after exposure to gamma rays.

Written by Vic MacDonald, editor for the Clinton Chronicle

Photos by Vic MacDonald