This is going to be a unique tutorial and not a review. I’m going to describe to you two different methods on how to bend a laser beam. That’s sounds cool right?

 

The first method is a bit easier than the second one but it’s also a bit less impressive. All you need is your standard laser pointer whereas I use a green laser 303. You also need an empty large bottle like a 2-liter soda bottle. Also you should wear a pair of laser safety glasses, in that way you don’t risk harming your eyes.

The first thing you need to do is to cut a very small hole by using a knife or some scissors. It maybe a little lower than halfway down on the side of the bottle. Once you have that hole cut, approximately the same size as the one I cut, you need to cover up that hole with your finger or a piece of tape. Then you fill up that bottle full of water, and position it next to a sink, like you see mine positioned right here.

Then you simply let that hole be open, so that the water flows out. And make sure you don’t have that cap on, because that will affect the flow of water. Once you have a constant flow of water coming out, what you need to do is to position your laser on the other side of the bottle. You will see when I shine the laser through, it’s hitting my hand on the other side. It’s in a straight line. However, if I match that beam up perfectly with that little hole, where the water is coming out, it’ll actually get stuck inside that flow of water, and it’ll go down into the sink instead of going straight.

This is called total internal reflection. The beam is basically bouncing off the top of the water in the bottom of the water. And it’s just continuing this process getting trapped inside of that flow of water.

 

I show you guys a diagram - that really illustrates it well. This is the first method, it’s called total internal reflection

The second method takes a bit more time, effort and supplies, but it’s definitely more rewarding in the end, because you can really see the light bending.

 

To start, what you guys need is a very small, five-gallon, and rectangular fish tank. I picked this one up at Petco for $13. They’re not really that expensive. You also need two pounds of granulated sugar, and five liters of water. And you need to be able to measure leaders, they usually sell these little two pound bags of sugar for a dollar or two. and the last thing is a laser and laser safety glasses.

 

Then use the entire two-pound bag to fill up the bottom of the fish tank, break up any big clumps of sugar, and try to disperse it evenly so that it’s all level. And then you guys need to put in the five liters of water, but you can use a folded piece of cardboard or something like that. Because you can get the water to hit the side of the tank so that it gently flows in, and doesn’t disturb the sugar too much.

Once you put the five liters of water in, you got to wait two days. This is the tough part, really, that’s how long I wait. I mean you’ll be able to see it a little bit after a couple hours, but if you want the full effect that you see in this tutorial, you need to wait at least 48 hours. Because I added that water gently, I have that layer of sugar still on the bottom. That’s going to dissolve slowly over the 48 hours.

 

This method is called an index of refraction. Basically what’s happening is the sugar at the bottom is slowly dissolving, causing different layers of sugar water concentration. And that causes the light to act differently in these different layers. It’s really cool and really neat to try out. This would make a really cool science project.

Basically the light is going through the lighter concentration areas, and higher concentration areas at a bit different rates. It kind of gives it a bending effect.

 

One very important part of this is that, you want that water in the tank to stay perfectly still during that 48 hours, you don’t want it to get shaken up on a tilt table or anything like that. Because that will mess up those layers. So make sure you put it somewhere where it’ll stay perfectly still, and it won’t get stirred up.

 

I show you what this looks like with several different wavelengths of lasers. It definitely works best with green lasers and blue lasers, 532 nanometers and 445 nanometers. Those are the brightest. And they have the best well-defined line.

 

To this method, it’s called index of refraction. When you’re cleaning out the tank, I would suggest maybe pouring it outside. Because that sugar water solution can be very sticky, and it can get caught on your tank and drains. So I would pour it outside and then wash it out in the sink a bit.

If you found this tutorial helpful, or informative in any way, hit that like button down below. And if you have other ideas for laser experiment that I should try, comment them down below. If you’re new to my channel, hit that subscribe button for more amazing laser reviews just like this.

 

Thank you for reading.

 

All lasers used in this tutorial can be found on Laser Pointer Store.

 

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