The Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) has been designed to take advantage of the two-way transportation capability of the space shuttle by providing a large number of economical opportunities for science and technology experiments that require modest electrical power and data processing while in space and which benefit from postflight…

Presented are descriptions (with photographs) of demonstration equipment purchased, assembled, developed, and used at William Jewell College (Missouri) during the past 25 years. The descriptions are organized into the following topic areas: (1) mechanics; (2) heat; (3) waves, sound, and acoustics; (4) electricity; (5) optics; and (6) atomic and…

This military-developed text consists of nine lessons dealing with investigative photography. Covered in the individual lessons are the following topics: light (light as the basis of photography, the behavior of light, the composition of white light, light transmission, reflection and absorption, illumination, and pinholes and light); camera…

This paper discusses the basic concepts of reflection and its related concepts in optics. It aims at providing examples on how to apply the principle of reflection in geometry. Explorations of the concepts involved via dynamic geometry software are also included.

Presented is a portion of a research project which developed materials for teaching remote sensing of natural resources on an interdisciplinary basis at the graduate level. This volume contains notes developed for a course in active remote sensing. It is concerned with those methods or systems which generate the electromagnetic energy…

Information related to the history of optics with emphasis on the classical and medieval periods is presented. Notes are included on experiments dealing with refraction at a plane interface between two media; refraction by transparent spheres; light, color, and reflection by transparent spheres. (Author/SA)

The life and work of Isaac Newton and his investigations of light and color are described in detail. Notes include preliminary observations of chromatic dispersion; dispersion by an equilateral prism; the "Experimentum Crucos" or the composite nature of white light; the nature of colored light and illumination; transmissions and…

This book contains 65 physics experiments. The experiments are for a college-level physics course for music and art majors. The initial experiments are devoted to the general concept of vibration and cover vibrating strings, air columns, reflection, and interference. Later experiments explore light, color perception, cameras, mirrors and symmetry,…

This instructional guide, intended for student use, develops the topic of optics through a series of sequential activities. A technical development of the subject is pursued with examples stressing practical aspects of the concepts. Included in the minicourse are: (1) the rationale, (2) terminal behavioral objectives, (3) enabling behavioral…

The third year of the Portland Project, a three-year secondary school curriculum in integrated science, consists of four parts, the first two of which are covered in this student guide. The reading assignments for part one, "Waves and Particles," are listed in the student guide and are to be read in the Harvard Project Physics textbook.…

With an aquarium and a few tools, a simple apparatus to quantitatively illustrate absorption rates of light passing through fresh, salt, and other waters (such as distilled water) can be constructed. Students learn that extinction rates are different and that the intensity/depth relationship is exponential. (DH)

Describes the decline in people's ability to focus their eyes as their age increases. Discusses probable causes of this effect including changes in the eye's geometry and biochemistry. Diagrammatically illustrates age related changes in the lens of the human eye. (CW)

Traces the development of instruments used in spectrophotometry. Discusses how spectrophotometric measurements are made. Describes the color comparator, the filter photometer, and the spectrophotometer. Outlines the evolution of optical systems, including light sources, the monochromator, the photodetector, double-beam optics, and split-beam…

Presents information relevant to everyday life so as to stimulate student interest in the properties of the two basic types of liquid crystals: thermotropic and lyotropic. Describes the applications of liquid crystals to electronics, biomedicine, and polymer science and appraises the future of liquid crystal research. (JM)