Light Links

Optics:

Pictures of Lenses and Mirrors

Lens Applet 1 - VERY IMPORTANT - Ray Diagrams. Read instructions, then click on start.

Construction of Ray Diagrams - You can change p and h (they use h' for height of the object).

Many Optics Applets

Polarization - you can change the angle of the polarizing sheets.

Misc Topics:

The Northern Lights - Explains how excited electrons give off light (photons) and produce the northern lights. Lots of good science and some great photos and movies.

Single Slit Diffraction

General Light and Optics Tutorials

Light Basics:

Basics of Light: What creates light; refraction; diffraction. Very good overview of light. Good for studying. Starts easy and gets way beyond our class, but is a very good discussion.

Refraction:

Refraction basics with pictures - show many examples.

Refraction and Critical Angle Applet - Circular picture part way down. You can change the angle by dragging the flashlight. You can also change the substances. At the bottom of the page is an exhaustive list of indexes of refraction.

Reflection, Refraction, and Diffraction

Colors:

Best RGB and CMYK applet - Find "colors" in the menu, then click on the "Run Applet" at the top to start. Be sure to do both additive and subtractive.

Colorbox (Applet)- Shows both RGB and CMYK Models (make sure to notice the background colors!)

Colour Therapy Institute - I don't advocate the therapy, but they have one of the best sites for explaining color.