Physical Science 15

Your discussion post about the lab, along with the photos posted to Blackboard, is due by Tuesday, 10/28 on Blackboard by 11:55 PM PDT.

Our third home lab is about light and optics - and in particular, the phenomena of reflection, refraction, and dispersion. These are the concepts from Chapter 11 in the textbook you want to master. And the lab is also about good science, and especially observation - developing a keener sense of noticing phenomena in nature around you.

Home Lab #2 Part 1: Research

Check out photos submitted by students around the country that include interesting reflections, refractions, and dispersions:

American Association of Physics Teachers Annual Photo Contest Award Winners (2008) http://aapt.org/upload/poster082.pdf and (2007) http://www.aapt.org/Contests/upload/2007_Photo_contest_poster_web.pdf

You'll need to zoom in to see the individual photos and read the descriptions.

You can find individual examples of photographs at many photo archival sites (picasa, shutterfly, snapfish, etc.) And you can find individual photos of interest with a bit of searching.
Check out Lortie, R. (2006) Réflexion et réfraction / Reflection and Refraction. PBase.com Galleries. Accessed 10/13/08 from http://www.pbase.com/rlortie/image/72357017 .

Home Lab #2 Part 2: Experiments

OK - Your turn. Take photos of anything that demonstrates the optical phenomena of reflection, refraction, and/or dispersion, using a phone or digital camera, and share it with the class by uploading it to Blackboard and discussing:

a) What interested you about the subject;

b) What you had to do to get the shot;

c) What was the physics demonstrated in the shot.