Optics
This unit did not have a project, but we learned some from it nonetheless. We learned about the color and electromagnetic spectrums and that to our basic prior knowledge of light and waves. We solved lots of questions regarding basic every day occurrences which people tend to take for granted; why are clouds white? Why is the sky blue? Why do sunsets look red and orange? Our research, which encompassed information from sources such as our textbook, the internet, and through critical and thoughtful thinking, we solved all of these questions and more.
The Basics of Light
Light is a form of energy that travels as electromagnetic waves within definitive frequencies. Light is a particle, photons, that behave as a wave. Light does not need a medium to travel through, unlike sound, so light can travel through any part of space, while sound can not. There is a light spectrum, although what is commonly thought of as "light" only encompasses visible light; this is in fact a very small portion of all light encompassed in the full light spectrum. The full spectrum contains gamma rays, X-rays, ultraviolet or UV rays, infrared rays, microwaves, etc. Take a look at the diagram above and see where each type of light falls on the spectrum!
The very last thing we learned about in this unit was lenses. The lens shown above is a converging lense. The focal length of the lens is the distance between the lens and the focal point. There are a lot of different types of lenses. Some create a virtual image, and others create what's called a real image. Virtual images are located between the focal point and the lens, and real images are situated beyond the focal point.