coin in water refraction experiment

Coin Experiment – Coin in Water

Did you know that water can play tricks on your eyes?

This experiment is incredibly simple and requires only a glass, water and a coin of your choice.

It demonstrates a special property of water , called light refraction.

If you put a coin inside a glass of water, you will be able to see that it appears in two places at once.

It’s as if a mirror were used to show the coin to both the front and the back of its surface at the same time.

It’s almost like you have doubled the money!

Try it. It’s a cool trick.

Coin Experiment - Coin in Water

This experiment makes use of the optical property of water and air.

• a penny (or any coin)
• a clear glass
• adult supervision

Instructions

• Put a penny into an empty glass.
• Position your head so that you see the coin from the side of the glass (not from above).
• Slowly pour water into the glass until you see a second coin appear on the other side of the glass when you see from above.

Did you try this project?

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Light bends when it passes from one medium (water) into another medium of a different density (air).

This bending of light , called refraction , causes the apparent position of the coin to change to a shallower position ​1​ (see diagram).

The light bends when it passes from water to air on top of the water.

It does the same thing when it passes through the glass, making the coin appear to be closer to you.

As a result, you see two images of the coin.

• Jiang W, Chen RT, Lu X. Theory of light refraction at the surface of a photonic crystal. Phys Rev B . June 2005. doi: 10.1103/physrevb.71.245115

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The Disappearing Coin Trick

In this magic trick you take a coin and place it under a clear, empty drinking glass. The spectators can still see the coin clearly through the glass. Then you slowly pour normal water into the glass and as it fills up, the coin vanishes.

Curriculum links include light, refraction, total internal refraction and refractive index.

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Disappearing Money

Make a coin vanish before your audience's eyes.

Print this Experiment

Magicians have made money appear from behind ears and out of nostrils for years. And you’ve seen Steve set a $100 bill on fire without harming Mr. Franklin. That’s all well and good, but we want to teach you a trick that uses science to make money “appear” as if it has disappeared.

Experiment Videos

Here's What You'll Need

Clear drinking glass, saucer or plate, let's try it.

Set a coin on a flat surface like a table or counter.

Place the base of a clear drinking glass over the coin.

Cover the mouth of the glass with a small saucer. Looking in through the side of the glass, you can still see the coin.

Now, tilt the saucer back and fill the glass with water.

Once you’ve filled the glass, replace the saucer. Can you still see the coin through the side of the glass? It’s disappeared!

Take the saucer off of the mouth of the glass. Peer straight to the bottom of the glass through the water. There’s that tricky coin!

How Does It Work

The trick behind the Disappearing Money experiment is the refraction of light. Images that we see are all light rays that reach our eyes. When these light rays travel through air, they experience little or no refraction. That’s why you can still see the penny through the side of the empty glass.

When you poured water into the glass, it was as though the penny had disappeared, but it was really just some bending light rays. After traveling through the water and the side of the glass, none of the rays were able to reach your eyes. Refraction occurs because of the molecules in the substances that the light rays are passing through. Gas molecules are spread out. This is why little to no refraction occurs. However, when light rays pass through a substance such as water, the refraction is greater because the molecules are closer together.

So when the light rays are traveling from the money through the water, they are refracted and cannot make it to your eyes. In fact, the glass also refracts the light even more! The image ends up being projected near the top of the glass after the light refraction it has undergone. You would be able to see it if the saucer were not strategically placed on top of the glass.

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Browse more experiments by concept:

Appearing Coin

Use the science of refraction to make a coin suddenly appear.

Download the pdf of complete activity t hat includes worksheet tables.

Learning Intentions

The activity investigates refraction and its applications in the real world. By the end of this activity, students should be able to:

• draw a diagram to show how the light coming from the coin changes direction (refracts) as it moves from water into air
• explain that this refraction of light makes the coin appear to be in a different place than it really is
• be able to define refraction and understand how the concept is applied to technologies.

Before the activity: This activity builds on students’ knowledge of light and reflection. Students can get an initial understanding of refraction from FLEET School resource, Light: reflection, refraction, diffraction.

Your hypothesis

There are two parts to this activity and series of questions and hypotheses that should be made as they go.

Question: Why am I unable to see the coin when there is no water in the bowl?

Hypothesis 1. What will happen when I fill the bowl with water?

Hypothesis 3. What will happen when I shine the laser light or insert the skewer down the straw to try and hit the coin? Question: Why was real position of the coin not where it appeared to be?

• a jug of water
• A partner helps here
• Laser light or skewer

Place the coin in the bowl. Lower yourself so that you can no longer see the coin in the bowl.

Go to Table 1, Appearing coin, and answer the first two questions. (See above link to pdf of complete activity.)

Now it is time to add water. Return to your position where you were unable to see the coin. Pour the water into the bowl. This is where the partner comes in handy to pour the water in for you, while you keep your eyes where you can’t see the coin.

Keep pouring the water into the bowl (don’t overflow the bowl – messy).

What do you notice? What happens to the coin?

This should be the whoa moment when the coin magically becomes visible.

Complete the final questions in Table 1. (See link above to pdf of complete activity.)

This activity is a bit like spear fishing. Take the straw and cut it in half, give the other half to the partner.

Place the coin in the middle of the bowl.

Use the Blutak to stick the straw to the side of the bowl. The partner sticks their straw on the opposite side of the bowl.

Use the straw as an aiming tool. Look down the straw and move the straw around until you are looking at the middle of the coin. That is, the straw is aimed at the middle of the coin.

Hypothesis time: If you use a skewer and insert the skewer down the straw that is aimed at the middle of the coin, what do you predict will happen? Go to Table 2, Coin fishing, to complete your hypothesis.

Now test your hypothesis. Take your skewer and insert it into the straw and down into the water. You are trying to spear the coin.

What happens? Did you hit where you aimed? Describe your observation in Table 2. (See above to pdf of complete activity)

Imagine if you were trying to spear a fish for dinner. What would you have to do with your aim to make sure you did not go hungry? Answer the rest of the questions in Table 2, Coin fishing.

Teacher notes

What is happening?

Light travels in a straight line, but it will change direction when it passes through different materials such as from air to water. This change in direction is called refraction and it is what makes something appear to be in a position it is not.

In our example of the appearing coin, as light reflects off the coin in the bottom of the bowl and exits the water, it changes direction (refracts). This change in direction enables the light to enter our eyes and makes the coin visible. See Figure 1 and 2 below.

Figure 1. As light reflects off the coin in a bowl without water, there is no refraction and if our eye is positioned below where the reflected light passes, we cannot see the coin.

Figure 2. When light reflect off a coin in a bowl of water, it refracts (changes direction) away from the normal. The change is direction enable the light to enter our eye and make the coin visible, but the refraction makes the coin appear in a different position.

While not necessary to understand for this activity, when light moves from one medium to another of different density, the speed of light will appear to change. The apparent change in speed is dependent on the medium it travels through. The constant (the c in E = mc 2 ) is the speed of light in a vacuum.

Technically the speed of light does not change, because as it passes through the medium it interacts with the atoms in that different media, changing direction with each interaction, which affects the time it takes to pass through the particular media.

Why does the coin appear where it isn’t?

Remember that light travels in a straight line. If you take the refracted light that reaches our eye from the coin, and trace it back in a straight line it will land in the bowl where the coin appears to be (rather than where it actually is). See Figure 2 and 3.

Figure 3. As light passes from one medium to another it will change direction (refracts) and slow down, or more accurately take a longer route from its point of entry to the point of exit and therefore appear to have slowed down. In this case because water is denser than air it refracts toward the normal line. As it exits the water into the air it will refract away from the normal line.

Applications of refraction

Think correctional lenses in glasses, microscopes, telescopes, cameras – anything with a lens.

Ask students what they think our world might be like if we had not worked out refraction and applied it to these technologies. How much of our world would we not understand if we had not be able to view it down a microscope – think bacteria.

Would we still think the Sun revolved around the Earth if we did not have the telescope?

What about rainbows? Without refraction we would be unable to witness one of nature’s wonders. See Activity 7, How to find a rainbow that takes students on a deeper exploration of refraction, and they get to build a rainbow finder.

This activity is part of FLEET Schools resource on Light: reflection, refraction and diffraction

Acknowledgement: This activity was created by Tristan Fuhrer and Nicholas Chang Wollmann from McKinnon Secondary College, in collaboration with FLEET

Back to FLEET Schools or All Home Science activities.

admin 26 Mar 2018 Home Science , Light and optics , School teacher resources

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Make a Coin Disappear!

Introduce your kids to the magic of science with this easy, yet fascinating experiment! Make a coin disappear and learn about how light travels in waves.

What to get:  

• Two jars or glasses

What You Do: 

• Place one jar (or glass) on top of one coin.
• Fill the glass with water and watch the coin disappear.
• Tape the other coin to the inside wall of the jar.
• Fill the glass with water. Can you see the coin? Does it look larger than before?
• Rotate the glass while looking at the coin from the side. Did it disappear?

The science behind the experiment:  

As light waves travel through different substances, their speed changes, which changes the light’s direction and the light is “bent” or refracted. (Think of how your speed changes when you try to move quickly in water, and the density of water slows your movements.) What we see when we look at an object is the light that is bounced back at us (reflected) as it bends (refracts) off the object.

The water slows down the light and changes the angle at which it bounces back to our eyes, making the coin under the glass invisible. The bending of light also magnifies things, so the coin taped inside the jar looks bigger. The jar and water act like a lens, bending the light rays inward to a focal point, where the light rays come together. But the light continues past the focal point, and the rays pass each other, so the light that was on the left side is now on the right, and vice versa.

Scientists ask questions:

• Does the size of the coin make a difference?
• What happens if the water is warmer? Colder?
• Does the size of the jar change the result?

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Different view with coin in water in Refraction of Light At Plane Surfaces – Class 10 Science Experiment

Chapter name: refraction of light at plane surfaces, activity name:   different view with coin in water in refraction of light at plane surfaces, activity description:.

Investigate the formation of an image of a coin at the bottom of a cylindrical transparent vessel when viewed from the water’s surface. Understand the principles of refraction and total internal reflection.

Required Items:

• Cylindrical transparent vessel (1 L beaker can be used)

Step by Step Procedure:

• Take the cylindrical transparent vessel or a 1 L beaker.
• Place a coin at the bottom of the vessel.
• Carefully pour water into the vessel until the coin is no longer visible from the side but forms an image on the water’s surface.
• Observe the formed image of the coin on the water surface.

Experiment Observations:

• The coin becomes invisible when viewed from the side of the vessel due to refraction.
• An image of the coin is formed on the water’s surface due to the bending of light rays as they pass from water to air.

Precautions:

• Handle the vessel and water carefully to avoid spills and accidents.
• Make sure the coin is clean and free from any substances that may affect the experiment.
• Perform the experiment in a well-lit area to clearly observe the image formation.

Lesson Learnt from Experiment:

The experiment demonstrates the phenomenon of refraction of light at a plane surface, which causes the image of the coin to form on the water’s surface. It also provides a practical example of total internal reflection, which plays a role in various natural occurrences, such as mirages observed during hot summer days.

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Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool

A complete, free online christian homeschool curriculum for your family and mine, light refraction experiment.

• coin, water
• *blu tack (mounting putty, what our family calls “sticky stuff” for hanging things on the wall – *can do without)
• a bowl that you can’t see through (not glass)
• Put the coin in the bottom middle of the bowl. If you have “sticky stuff,” then stick the coin to the bottom of the bowl.
• Pour some water into the bowl and cover the coin. Pour slowly. Pour very carefully if your coin isn’t stuck so that you don’t move it.
• The observer should move backwards until the coin just goes out of sight.
• The pourer should then start to slowly and carefully add more water. Keep adding water until the coin is in view to the observer.

Conclusion:

• At first, the bowl keeps you from seeing the coin.
• The water bends the light over the edge of the bowl so that you can see the coin.
• In the bath you can see if something at the bottom of the tub seems closer to the surface than it really is.
• Refracted light is when light bends. It happens when it hits a surface which makes the light change directions. Water is one of those surfaces that bends light.

Disappearing coin * age 3-8

Disappearing coin 😲 age 3-8 😲 For this simple experiment you need a coin, water and a glass. Place the coin under the empty glass. It is easy to see the coin. Now add water to the glass and the coin disappears! This is due to light refraction. Light rays travel through air with very little refraction so it’s easy to see the coin. But when light rays have to travel through water, there is much more refraction (due to molecules being much closer together in water than in air). The kids were totally amazed! Isn’t science cool?

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10 Easy & Engaging Water Refraction Activities For Kids

August 3, 2023 //  by  Lauren Du Plessis

Are you looking to bring science to life in the most engaging way possible? We’ve curated a list of easy-to-set-up water refraction activities to ignite your student’s curiosity. These experiments, which involve bending light and color spectrums, offer a practical exploration of the laws of physics. While providing endless fun, they will also help you portray fundamental scientific concepts in an easy-to-understand way. So, dive right in and spark some light-bending magic in your classroom!

1. Bending Pencil Experiment

Add a sprinkle of science to a regular day with this hands-on activity. Ask your students to observe as you submerge a pencil halfway into a glass of water. As they watch it appear to look broken, explain how light waves change direction when they pass from one medium to another. This is a fantastic way to introduce the concept of light behavior and optics to your young students!

Learn More: Ingenium

2. Water Prism

For this experiment, expose a glass of water to light rays from the sun. As the light passes through the water-filled prism, it’ll bend and split into a spectrum of colors; showing kids the colorful world hidden in plain light. Be prepared for an array of “oohs” and “aahs”!

Learn More: YouTube

3. Magic Coin Trick

Bring the wonder of magic into the classroom with this simple yet engaging activity. Place a coin at the bottom of an empty container and step back until the coin is no longer visible. Pour water into the container and watch as the coin “magically” reappears. Your students will be amazed at how the path of light can alter what we see!

Learn More: Mombrite

4. Creating Rainbows

Make a sunny day even brighter with this fun and colorful activity. With a garden hose and a good spray of water, demonstrate how sunlight refracts and disperses when passing through water droplets, creating a beautiful rainbow. The best part? No pot of gold is required!

Learn More: Big Bang Education

5. Underwater Color Mixing

Delve into a world of color beneath the water’s surface. Using colored objects submerged in water, ask your students to observe how colors appear to change due to the bending of light waves. It’s a vibrant way to engage the artistic scientist in every child!

Learn More: PBS Learning Media

6. Disappearing Glass Rod

Enthrall your students with this magic trick that makes a glass rod disappear in the water! It’s very easy, too: Pour vegetable oil into a container, add a glass rod, and witness the vanishing act! Explain to your students that when two substances have a similar refractive index, the boundary between them becomes almost invisible, creating the illusion of disappearance.

Learn More: Gr5.org

7. Flipping Arrow Illusion

Who says arrows can’t change direction? Draw an arrow, place it behind a glass of water, and watch as it seemingly flips direction! Your young learners will marvel at this visual twist; understanding how refraction can affect our perception.

Learn More: What Do We Do All Day

8. Water Lens

In this experiment, have your students create a makeshift magnifying lens using only water and clear plastic. By observing how the makeshift water lens magnifies objects, they’ll grasp the refractive properties of water and learn how lenses work in a practical, engaging manner.

9. Floating Flower Fantasy

Enchant your students with a floating flower garden! In this floral variation of the broken pencil experiment, begin by immersing vibrant flowers in a water-filled vase and let your students wonder at the seemingly severed stems! This captivating optical illusion provides a tangible demonstration of water refraction in action.

Learn More: Pinterest

10. Aquatic Amplification – Fish in a Bowl

If you’re looking for a more hands-on activity that indulges your students’ creativity, we have you covered. Have your learners craft their own fish from paper, ask them to pop it into an empty fishbowl, and then fill up the bowl with water. As they observe the amplified and slightly distorted fish, their excitement will rise with the water level. 

Learn More: Frugal Fun 4 Boys

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Light Refraction Experiment

March 30, 2020 By Emma Vanstone Leave a Comment

This light refraction experiment might be one of the most simple to set up science experiments we’ve ever tried. It is a bit tricky to explain, but impressive even if you can’t quite get your head around it!

If you like this activity don’t forget to check out out our other easy science experiments for kids .

Materials for Light Refraction Experiment

Paper or card

Instructions

Fill the glass almost to the top.

Draw arrows on one piece of of card or paper. Place the paper behind the glass and watch as the arrow points the other way.

Now try to think of a word that still makes sense if you put it behind the glass.

We tried bud , the green ( badly drawn ) plant is on the opposite side when the paper is not behind the glass.

NOW works well too 🙂

How does this work?

Refraction ( bending of light ) happens when light travels between two mediums. In the refraction experiment above light travels from the arrow through the air, through the glass, the water, the glass again and air again before reaching your eyes.

The light reaching your eye (or in this case our camera) coming from the arrow is refracted through the glass of water. In fact the glass of water acts like a convex lens (like you might have in a magnifying glass). Convex lenses bend light to a focal point . This is the point at which the light from an object crosses.

The light that was at the tip of the arrow is now on the right side and the light on the right side is now on the left as far as your eye is concerned (assuming you are further away from the glass than the focal point.

If you move the arrow image closer to the glass than the focal point it will be the way around you expect it to be!

More Refraction experiments

Create an Alice in Wonderland themed version of this too!

Find out how to make your own magnifying glass .

We’ve also got a fun disappearing coin trick .

Or try our light maze to learn about reflection .

Last Updated on February 22, 2021 by Emma Vanstone

Safety Notice

Science Sparks ( Wild Sparks Enterprises Ltd ) are not liable for the actions of activity of any person who uses the information in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources. Science Sparks assume no liability with regard to injuries or damage to property that may occur as a result of using the information and carrying out the practical activities contained in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources.

These activities are designed to be carried out by children working with a parent, guardian or other appropriate adult. The adult involved is fully responsible for ensuring that the activities are carried out safely.

Reader Interactions

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Why does a coin appear raised when placed in water?

This is because of refraction of light. as light passes from water to air, it bends away from the normal. the refracted rays appear to come from a point above the actual position of the coin, hence the coin appears raised..

When a coin placed in a bowl of water and seen from above, it appears:

Explain the following :

(a) A coin placed at the bottom of a vessel appears to be raised when water is poured in the vessel.

(b) A straight stick partly dipped in water obliquely, appears to be bent at the surface of water.

(c) The sun is seen before the sunrise and after the sunset.

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Water Refraction Science Experiment

This water refraction science experiment has such a "wow factor" and is so quick and easy I can't believe my kids and I haven't done it before. It would fit right in with our DIY science camp series , too. Best of all, there is almost no set up, but once I showed it to the kids, they experimented on their own and debated the reasons for the results. You have the option of setting up the science experiment as we did, or doing it right now with the glass of water sitting next to you!

What you need:

• Jar or glass
• A paper with a design on it. If you wish, you can download and print our printable . It is two pages and includes the colored bars and two arrows.

Instructions:

Place a jar or glass about 6 inches in front of the colored bars or arrows. Pour in the water. What happens?

Watch the video!

To make it more fun: 

Ask your kids to keep their eyes on the bars/arrows as you slowly pour the water into the jar.

I told my kids I had a magic liquid. I'm pretty sure my 6 year old believed me, but my 10 year old unconvincingly said, "It's water, mom." But then after I performed the experiment, he said, "Now try it with water." Ha! So I guess I did fool him.

Explorations:

• Does it make a difference how close the water is to the paper?
• Does it make a difference if the jar is square or round? What about the size of the jar or glass?
• Draw a diagram of what you think is happening to the light rays. (See explanation below)
• Super nerdy kids ( I say that with love ) can learn more about refraction of light here .

The science behind the water refraction experiment:

Refraction is the bending of light. In this case, light traveled from the air, through the front of the glass jar, through the water, through the back of the glass jar, and then back through the air, before hitting the picture. Whenever light passes from one medium into another, it refracts.

In addition, the water acts as a magnifying glass, which bends the light toward the center. The light comes together at the focal point and beyond the focal point the image looks reversed because the light that was on the right is now on the left, and vice versa. Clear as mud? ( Note: I am not a science teacher and if you would like to correct or add to my explanation in the comments, I welcome it! Update: someone did! Read the comments for more scientific explanation of the refraction phenomena. )

Want another cool and magical water experiment?

• Find out how to make a coin jump from a bottle .
• Or find more fun indoor water activities for kids .

Reader Interactions

Maria Dermitzaki says

February 12, 2017 at 3:25 pm

I would like to receive mails

February 13, 2017 at 9:44 am

You can sign up here: https://www.whatdowedoallday.com/newsletter-sign

Eliana Nevarez says

February 04, 2018 at 10:59 pm

we filled the glass half with water and put the arrow behind the glass and when we moved the arrow to a particular distance behind the glass it makes the arrow look like its going the other way. When light passes from one material to another, it can bend or refract. In the third experiment before hitting the arrow light traveled from the air, through the glass, through the water, through the back of the glass, and then back through the air. Anytime that light passes from one thing into another, it refracts. When light went through the glass the light bent toward the center. That’s where the light all came together this is called the focal point, but beyond the focal point the image reversed because the light rays that were bent pass each other and the light that was on the right side is now on the left and the left on the right and that is what makes the arrow looks reversed.

Sauli Jämsä says

March 30, 2020 at 7:48 am

You should be talking about light traveling FROM the picture TO your eyes.

June 03, 2020 at 9:41 am

Light doesn't travel, it's just waves.

September 19, 2020 at 5:54 am

What is the prinsipal for this experiment

ayushi says

May 12, 2021 at 3:16 am

prinicipal - refraction of light.

person says

February 10, 2022 at 2:15 pm

you spelt principal wrong

February 10, 2022 at 2:16 pm

ranji spelt principal wrong*

February 22, 2021 at 3:58 am

It will just be same if the glass is not round?

February 22, 2021 at 3:15 pm

Might be a fun experiment to try it and find out. 😉

Ms. Right says

January 14, 2023 at 12:04 pm

Everyone spelled it wrong. Principal = the leader of a school. Principle = theory of reasoning

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