Optics

This writeup is to give you some guidance about writing up the optics lab. Here are a few helpful (I hope) points.

1. The writeup should be medium long, about 6 pages, double spaced, figures. You can exclude the figures from you page count, particularly since the LP figures have really small type and so have to be made large.
   
   When writing this lab up, think about what you are doing is testing a model through the measurements and investigations that you did in the classroom. In this case the model is very simple, that is ray model for the refraction of light through lenses. Can all of your data and observations be explained by the ray model? If not, then are the deviations due to a failure of the model, or due to limitations in your experimental technique or observations.
   
   In the case of the ray model for optics, you have two ideas that you want to test:
   1. The prediction of image formation from ray diagrams and/or
   2. The results of applying the thin lens equation.
2. Be sure that you include relevant images in your writeup (several images from the your movies and graphs from loggerpro - you can use screen shots from loggerpro). You should also turn in your loggerpro file (just email it to me). All Figures and tables should have captions and be referenced in your text. All movies should be posted to the facebook page.
3. It will consist of 4 parts:
   • Background: What model are you testing here? What experiments would you do to test this model? Discuss applications of the model. Pick one optical instrument (the microscope, the telescope, adaptive optics, the eye) and do some background research on it and describe its operation. For example, a very good source on the microscope is the web site, microscopyu.com. Be sure to reference your sources.
     As in the previous labs, you could for each of the parts, write the experiment, result, and the do an overall discussion for all three together for a nice flow.
   • Experimental description: materials, protocol - enough detail for someone to repeat your experiment.
   • Results: Describe your observations, include data either in tabular, graphical, or image form, in a way that clearly displays what you have measured. Important: Include scanned copies of your original data sheets. If there are problems here, talk to me on Tuesday.
   • Discussion. What aspects of the model were tested in each section? What were the results, agreement or disagreement? Expand on this, make the logical argument that the model is supported. If the model is not supported, then why? Be specifc. What experiemntal factors led to an apparent falsification of the model. Be quantitative here, as much as is possible.