Waves and Optics

Intro Physics worked on a lab targeting energy conservation in simple harmonic motion. We let a spring oscillate, after experimentally determining the spring constant, and saw the pattern conform nicely to a sine curve. Looking at the graphs of kinetic energy and elastic potential energy, it was seen that they were inverse of each other and, at any point, the sum of the two energies was about the same value as any other point in the motion. We then added a large coffee filter to the bottom of the spring's mass and saw how mechanical energy was no longer conserved in the presence of significant frictional resistance. Tomorrow, we'll dig further into waves and wave features.

Honors Physics, Physics D and Physics F worked on practice problems for curved mirrors. Folks had to use the mirror formula as well as the two versions of the magnification formulas to solve problems involving image properties, object properties or mirror properties. Most people realized that reading the problem carefully and using the information to correctly assign signs for values was a critical skill for success. Physics D and F also had to draw ray diagrams for concave mirrors, while Honors Physics had to the same for both types of mirrors. We'll go over these problems tomorrow before moving on to color and polarization.