Waves (1) - reflection, refraction, prisms and apparent depth

 

1 Huygens' principle

1 What is meant by an envelope of wavelets?

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2 Are Huygens' wavelets real, or are they merely geometrical constructions?

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3 What wave phenomena can be "predicted" by using Huygens' principle?

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2 Snell's law

1a What exactly is Snell's law, and how are the angles of incidence and refraction defined.

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b Place the following in order of increasing refractive index. air, water, glass, diamond.

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2 How does one find an angle of refraction given and angle of incidence and the refractive index?

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3 How is the refractive index related to the wavelength and velocity of light in glass?

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4 How is Snell's law applied to the interface between .... say ....... water and glass.

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3 Lenses

1 What is meant by real and virtual and what alternative description could be applied?

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2 What do the symbols u, v and f represent?

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3 How could a student find the possible error in v (image distance) when using a screen to find images formed by a convex lens?

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4 How is the focal length of a convex lens determined most easily?

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5 What is the method of no parallax and what is it used for?

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Multiple lenses in contact

1 What is meant by the power of a lens?

2 How is the focal length of a concave lens determined most easily?

 

4 Mirrors and lenses

1 Where is the image in a plane mirror and how is it found with a ray diagram?

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2 What is the effect that makes a right-hand glove appear as a left-hand glove in a plane mirror?

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3 How is light returned from a right-angled corner?

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4 How many images appear when an object is placed in a two dimensional right-angled corner?

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5 How many images appear when an object is placed in a three dimensional right-angled corner?

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6 What is the difference between the focal points of a circular (spherical) and a parabolic mirror?

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7 How is the focal length of a thin circular mirror related to the radius of curvature?

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8 Under what conditions is a real image formed in a concave mirror?

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9 Describe the image formed in a convex optical mirror?

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10* How large must a parabolic mirror be to effectively focus the sounds of bird song?

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5 The thin lens formula

1 On what mathematical principle does the derivation of the lens formula depend?

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2 What is meant by a 'thin' lens?

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3 What assumptions are made when the ray diagram is drawn which lead to an approximate formula in a real case?

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4 What happens to the value of the image distance v as the radius of curvature of a concave mirror approaches infinity?

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6 Total internal reflection

1 Why is this type of reflection referred to as total?

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2 Why is this type of reflection referred to as internal?

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3 How exactly is the critical angle for total internal reflection related to the refractive index of the two materials?

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4 What is an interference film mirror?

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5 What is the Brewster angle?

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7 Prisms and Apparent depth

1* Newton is often credited with the first description of spectral colors. How appropriate is this assessment?

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2 How does the dispersion of light by a prism compare with the dispersion by a diffraction grating?

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3 What is meant by minimum deviation and when does it occur?

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4 How is a prism used to measure refractive index?

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5 How is apparent depth used to measure refractive index?

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8* Refraction in the atmosphere (not required for IB)

1* What critical role does minimum deviation play in the formation of ice crystal halos and of rainbows?

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2* What is the difference between superior and inferior mirages, and what temperature gradients lead to their formation?

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3* Why is the green flash green and not blue?

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