The Convex CupKamile ContrerasAward: Second Place Contrived
School: sleepy hollow high school Originally, my goal was to create a rainbow by shining light from my flashlight through water. But while I was trying to take a picture, something unexpected happened. Instead of spreading out, the light focused into a thin line on the other side of the cup. Curious, I decided to experiment with a flashlight. To my surprise, the light exiting the cup took on the shape of a candle. The cup, filled with water, acts like a convex lens. This lens causes the light to bend as it passes through, resulting in the formation of the candle-like shape on the other side. Convex lenses operate by refracting light rays together. As light passes through this lens, it intersects at a point called the focal point. This is because of the angles the light hits the lens surfaces, which makes the light rays bend inward to a central point. Also, when light enters the water-filled cup, it slows down due to the higher refractive index of water compared to air, which further contributes to bending the light rays inward (bending toward the normal when entering at the first lens surface and bending away from the normal when exiting the second lens surface). Adding soy sauce to the water changes its refractive index slightly. This is why the yellow-tinted light from the top layer is not as wide as the bottom layer of light. This experiment was both fun and unexpected, showing me that light can do some really cool things 
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