Refraction

$Refraction$

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Teachers' Domain, Galileo's Telescope, published January 29, 2004, retrieved on September 27, 2008,

Refraction--the bending of waves--occurs whenever a wave (like a light wave!) changes medium--because the wave front either slows down or speeds up. Refraction is a naturally occurring phenomena you see responsible for such events like rainbows, mirages, sparkling diamonds, and fiber optics cables--refraction is also why lenses work so your eye can see and we can build such fun things like cameras, movie projectors, binoculars, CD players, and telescopes! Enjoy your explorations of refraction!

Exploration 1: Index of Refraction & Snell’s Law: Bending Light & Optical Density Simulation How can you tell a real diamond from a fake? What happens to a beam of light as it enters into thicker and thicker substances? In this simulation you will explore Snell's Law and the angle of refraction.
Try this one for fun!: Fish In A Tank
Exploration 2: PowerPoint Notes on Lenses Here are our class notes on lenses & optical instruments.	PowerPoint Notes on Lenses
Exploration 3: Optics Bench & Lenses Use the Optics Bench to study how using the principal rays for lenses we can locate and determine the nature of images formed in converging and diverging lenses.
Optional Converging Lens Sim: In this lab sim you will explore how images are formed in both convex (converging) and concave (diverging)--notice how the 3 principal rays determine where the image of the object is formed! You may need to hit F5 to refresh the page if you're having any trouble and hit F11 for a Full Screen view to fit the whole sim on your screen!

Lab Note: Having trouble with Java? Click here for help!

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