Physical optics

In an experiment where you light a long filament vertical light bulb. If you look at it from several meters away through a vertical slit cut in a 3 X 5 card, you will see a lovely fringe system. Explain what's happening. Multiple choice: 1. Light linearly polarized in the plane-of-incidence impinges on the surface of a glass plate in air at Brewser's angle. The transmitted beam is: (a) nonexistent (b) linearly polarized in the plane-of-incidence (c) linearly polarized perpendicular to the plane-of-incidence (d) partially polarized (e) none of these. Explain your choice. 2. For two sources to be coherent, it is both necessary and sufficient that each: (a) be exactly in step, that is, i... click for more

Physical optics

Multiple choice: 1. The middle of the first-order maximum, adjacent to the central bright fringe in the double-slit experiment, corresponds to at a point where the optical path length difference from the tow apertures is equal to: (a) h (=lander) (b) 0 (c) 1/2h (d) 1/4h (e) none of the above. Explain your choice. 2. A narrow slit of width D is illuminated by light comming from a monochromator so that the wavelength can be varied all across the visible spectrum. As h =Lander) decreases, the Faunhofer diffraction pattern, viewed in the focal plane of a lens: (a) shrinks with all fringes getting narrower (b) spreads out with all the fringes getting wider (c) remains unchanged (d) alters suc... click for more

The propagation of Light: Scattering

Question: 1. Modern picture frames sometimes come with "nonreflecting" glass (i.e., glass whose surface has been deliberately made rough). What does it actually accomplish? 2. How is it that you can see your image in the surface of a polished black automobile? Explain what's happening. What allows you to see the gin in a glass, or the glass itself, for that matter?. Multiple choice: 1. If the atmosphere were very much deeper than it is now, the Sun might appear: (a) blue at sunset (b) red at noon (c) green at sunrise (d) violet at noon (e) none of these. Explain your choice. 2. When light is incident on a smooth surface, the angleof incidence ordinarily: (a) equals the angle of sc... click for more

The propagation of Light: Scattering

Multiple choice: 1. Compared to an object in front of it, the image in a plane mirror is always: (a) smaller (b) virtual (c) three times far away (d) distorted (e) none of these. Explain your choice. 2. A chicken is standing 1.0 m in front of a vertical plane mirror. A woman is standing 5.0 m from the mirror, behind and in line with the bird. How far from her will she see the image of the chicken? (a) 5.0 m (b) 1.0 m (c) 6.0 m (d) 4.0 m (e) none of these. Explain your choice. The bending or refraction of a beam of light as it enters a medium that has a greater index of refraction than the incident medium is due to a change in its: (a) amplitude (b) effective speed (c) frequency (d) pe... click for more

Sound Waves

1. Imagine two symmetrical pulses that are identical in every way, except tht one is inverted. These pulses are moving toward each other on a rope in opposite directions. What happens to the energy of the rope at the instant of complete cancellation? 2. In the real world, a pulse sent down a very long, taut rope diminishes in amplitude and ultimately vanishes. Describe what's happening in terms of Conservation of Energy. Multiple choice: 1. A periodic wave passes an observer, who records tht there is a time of .5 s between crests. (a) the frequency is .5 Hz (b) the speed is .5 m/s (c) the wavelength is .5 m (d) the period is .5 s (e) none of these. Explain your choice. 2. For a har... click for more