Lesson 10 – Light Wave Interference
Besides explaining rainbows, why model light as a wave? The particle model of light is usually drawn with a particle traveling as a ray. Just by staring at a candle
Lesson 9 – Light Waves
In “What is Light?”, we described light as both a wave and a particle under the conditions of the wave-particle duality. In the previous posts, we have mostly modeled light
Lesson 8 – Prisms and Total Internal Reflection
Besides lenses and mirrors, prisms are another group of common optical elements. White light that enters a prism leaves as many different colors due to the different refractive indexes of
Lesson 7 – The Eyepiece and Lens Requirements
In the previous post, we looked at how changing the focal lengths produced different images (and virtual images) for SINGLE lenses. Sometimes, however, a system of lenses is needed to
Lesson 6 – Focal Length and Applications of Lenses
Focal length is important not just in terms of positive and negative. For convex lenses, different focal lengths can have drastically different images. If an object (u) is at a
Lesson 5 – Intro to Optical Components
The properties of light evident in nature are utilized by humans through instruments such as lenses and mirrors. While one might think that glass is the main material used to
Lesson 4 – How Does Light Travel? Part II: Refraction
Why does a pencil look like it is snapped in half when partially placed in a container of water? The short answer is refraction. A more detailed explanation is that
Lesson 3 – How Does Light Travel? Part I: Diffraction and Reflection
A total solar eclipse is perhaps one of the most dramatic examples of a shadow. When the moon is positioned between the earth and the sun, the moon’s shadow is
Lesson 2 – How to Describe Light
Light that the human eye can see is just a small sliver of the electromagnetic spectrum. We use wavelength (λ), measured in nanometers (nm) or micrometers (1 μm = 1000
Lesson 1 – What is Light?
Optics is the study of light. The root of the word “opt” relates to the eye and vision, while the suffix “ics” refers to a science or discipline. [1] With
