Wednesday February 13

Refraction- the change in direction upon transmission into a new medium if the wave a) changes speed b) strikes a boundary obliquely (not perpendicular)
Examples of different media of refraction: glass, air, water

Rules:
-If speed decreases at interface, then the wave bends toward the normal
-If speed increases at interface, the wave bends away from normal

Absolute index of refraction- the ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum to the speed of light in the medium. (dimensionless) Symbol= n

Equations:

n2=v1=λ1
n1 v2 λ2

n=c/v

Example:
What is the speed of light in water?

c= 3.0x10⁸ m/s
n=1.33

n=c/v

1.33=3.0x10⁸ m/s / v

v=2.25x10⁸ m/s

February 15, 2008

In class today we watched a movie about the different job fields that are associated with physcics and chemistry. We saw that there were numerious amounts of different applications of the skills that are learned in physics and chemistry. There are several engineering applications in the world today that involve both physics and chemistry such as mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, and electrical engineering. Overall the day was more about seeing what type of jobs are out there if we continue to study science in college and want to have a career related to physics and/or chemistry