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We describe a low-cost and playful apparatus for geometrical optics experiments that uses everyday materials. The experimental setup is simple and easy to manipulate, and it entails making spherical lenses with Jell-O. Using paper templates, created in the desired shape, we cut the Jell-O in the format of a spherical lens. Using these materials, we measured the refraction index of the lenses using Snell's Law and measured the focal distance of a convergent Jell-O lens. Using a Jell-O lens, we simulated how the crystalline lens in the human eye works. By stretching and compressing the Jell-O lens, it is possible to observe a change in the focal position, illustrating the mechanism of accommodation that occurs in the human eye. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The teaching of Optics in the undergraduate courses that have General Physics in their syllabi, usually focus on elementary topics of geometrical and wave optics, put aside actual subjects of this field. So usually are not discussed importants topics from both, basic reaserch and technological applications. One of this topics is nonlinear optics. This paper presents a proposal of a low-cost experiment for demonstrating that the light can modify the optical properties of a medium. The experiment is founded in the induction of a lens in a medium due to optical absorption followed by a nonradiative relaxation. The sample used in this experiment is a fluid of easy obtainment, soy sauce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]