6A10.60 - Mirrors - Candle Under Water and Pepper's Ghost

Code Number:
6A10.60
Demo Title:
Mirrors - Candle Under Water and Pepper's Ghost
Condition:
Excellent
Principle:
Reflections and Image-Object Distance
Area of Study:
Optics

Disclaimer

Equipment:
Plexiglas or Glass Plate, Beaker Full of Water, Small Candle, Grill Lighter, and Black Screen or Box.
Procedure:

Set the Plexiglas plate vertically on the table so that you can see through it.  About 20 cm behind the glass plate place the beaker of water.  At approximately the same distance in front of the glass plate is where you place the candle or light bulb.  Viewing from a slight angle in relation to the glass plate should give you an image of the candle inside of the beaker.  Dimming the room lights may help brighten the image of the candle.

If you are setting this up as a hallway demonstration you will want to hide the candle from the viewer.  You would place the candle behind the black screen or in a black box to achieve this.

References:
  • Donald A. Smith, Brian Coleman, "Light, Physics, Action: The Science of Theater Lighting Design", TPT, Vol. 59, #8, Nov. 2021, p. 610.
  • Thomas B. Greenslade Jr, "Greenslade Response", TPT, Vol. 59, #6, Sept. 2021, p. 388
  • Terry Toepker, "Please, Look Again", TPT, Vol. 59, #6, Sept. 2021, p. 388.
  • Thomas B. Greenslade Jr, "Using Reflection from a Pane of Glass to Copy a Drawing", TPT, Vol. 59, #5, May 2021, p. 374.
  • Thomas B. Greenslade Jr, "Starfish in the Sky", TPT, Vol. 58, #3, Mar. 2020, p. 147.
  • Rachael Lancor and Brian Lancor, "Manchester’s Magiscope: An Interesting Optics Puzzle", TPT, Vol. 55, #2, Feb. 2017, p. 106.
  • Ruud Brouwer and Hubert Biezeveld, "(Over)Simplified Science", TPT, Vol. 50, #3, Mar. 2012, p. 132.
  • Thomas B. Greenslade Jr., "Pepper's Ghost", TPT, Vol. 49, #6, Sept. 2011, p. 338.
  • Michael J. Ruiz and Terry L. Robinson, "Illusion with Plane Mirrors", TPT, Vol. 25, #4, Apr. 1987, p. 206.
  • R. D. Edge and Edwin R. Jones Jr., "Optical Illusions", TPT, Vol. 22, #9 , Dec. 1984, p. 591.
  • Thomas B. Greenslade Jr., 19th Century Textbook Illustrations XVI: Illusions with Unsilvered Mirrors", TPT, Vol. 15, #6, Sept. 1977, p. 360.
  • Albert V. Baez, "An Entertaining Demonstration Using Window Glass as a Mirror", AJP, Vol. 21, #1, Jan. 1953, p. 63.
  • David Howard, "400 Years of Holograms: The History of Illusion", Popular Mechanics, July/Aug. 2015, p. 63.
  • D. Rae Carpenter Jr. and Richard B. Minnix, "O-100. Glass Sheet-Candle Under Water", DICK and RAE Physics Demo Notebook, 1993.
  • G. D. Freier and F. J. Anderson, "Ob-2, A Demonstration Handbook for Physics.
  • John Henry Pepper, "The Reflection of Light", Cyclopadic Science Simplified, p. 27.
  • Carson I. A. Ritchie, "Diorama", Making Scientific Toys, p. 45.
  • Don Rathjen and Paul Doherty, "Your Father's Nose", Square Wheels, 2002, p. 129.
  • Carson I. A. Ritchie, "Pepper's Ghost", Making Scientific Toys, p. 26.
  • Paul Doherty, Don Rathjen, "Everyone Is You and Me", The Cheshire Cat, p. 50.
  • David Kutliroff, "2. Demonstration of Reflection from a Place Surface", 101 Classroom Demonstrations and Experiments For Teaching Physics, p. 20.
  • Martin Gardner, "Picture Copier", Entertaining Science Experiments with Everyday Objects, p. 78.
  • Borislaw Bilash II and David Maiullo, "Is It Real?", A Demo a Day: A Year of Physics Demonstrations, p. 328.
  • Janice VanCleave, "45. Fire Under Water?", Teaching the Fun of Physics, p. 73.
  • "An Electric Illusion Box", The Boy Magician, ISBN 978-1-58816-754-5, p. 123.
  • "A Miniature 'Pepper's Ghost' Illusion", The Boy Magician, ISBN 978-1-58816-754-5, p. 134.
  • Jearl Walker, "6.72. One-Way Mirror", The Flying Circus of Physics Ed. 2, p. 270.
  • Jearl Walker, "6.62. Pepper's Ghost and the Bodiless Head", The Flying Circus of Physics Ed. 2, p. 265.
  • Julien Clinton Sprott, "6.10. Pepper's Ghost", Physics Demonstrations, ISBN 0-299-21580-6, p. 255.
  • James Cunningham and Norman Herr, "7.1.2. Creating Illusions with Reflections", Hands-On Physics Activities with Real Life Applications, p. 438.
  • Richard E. Berg, "Light Bulb in Water Beaker Illusion", Physics Instructional Resource Association Newsletter".
  • Richard Gardner, "A Burning, Underwater Candle", Make an Interactive Science Museum, p. 83.
  • Joey Green, "Underwater Candle", The Mad Scientist Handbook, Vol. 1, p. 111.

Disclaimer: These demonstrations are provided only for illustrative use by persons affiliated with The University of Iowa and only under the direction of a trained instructor or physicist.  The University of Iowa is not responsible for demonstrations performed by those using their own equipment or who choose to use this reference material for their own purpose.  The demonstrations included here are within the public domain and can be found in materials contained in libraries, bookstores, and through electronic sources.  Performing all or any portion of any of these demonstrations, with or without revisions not depicted here entails inherent risks.  These risks include, without limitation, bodily injury (and possibly death), including risks to health that may be temporary or permanent and that may exacerbate a pre-existing medical condition; and property loss or damage.  Anyone performing any part of these demonstrations, even with revisions, knowingly and voluntarily assumes all risks associated with them.