Jackie Thompson

Refraction in Water

St. Lukes School CT, April 2019

This photo demonstrates the law of refraction. Refraction is a boundary behavior that occurs when a light wave enters a new material. The water in this picture demonstrates the new material. This straight straw appears to be crooked when slightly immersed in water. The part of the straw that is submerged in water is seen as slightly to the right because of the light waves hitting the water. When the light ray enters the water, the ray moves at a slower speed. When the light wave crosses through the new material, the wave is bent because it has a higher optical density than air. The light coming from the straw bends when it comes out at the surface because of refraction of light.

CD(iffraction)

Pound Ridge NY, April 2019

This photo demonstrates the law of diffraction. Diffraction is the phenomenon in which light bends around an obstacle that is in its path. When white light hits the CD which has microscopic pits, the light bounces off the pits in different directions. When light waves reflect off the pits on a CD, they overlap and interfere with each other. The result of this is different colors are cancelled out so pits reflect a certain color. From a larger view, this is the cause of seeing the "rainbow" on the surface of the CD.