Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA
"Today is Laser Täg"
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Physics 205B, spring semester 2020
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA
Selected/edited student questions and comments are given below.
"What college student looked into a laser beam for the mandatory safety briefing to be necessary?" (UC-Davis was sued when a physics student shined a laser from lab out through the window onto a passing bicyclist. Apparently even if there is no physical or intended harm, damages can be claimed from perceived harm. So, hence this safety briefing.)
"I am curious how the angles of refraction would be altered when moving through a different substance than water, perhaps ethanol."
"What different kind of materials can be used to experiment with critical angles?" (Any transparent material that has a higher index of refraction than air. So, basically everything.)
"Does initially passing the light through the glass rod cause the light to be polarized?" (No, but it diverges it out vertically so it will visually "cast" as a beam across the acrylic semicircular prism.)
"Once light has been transmitted into a material (e.g. water) how long will it travel in that material? At the bottom of the ocean I imagine there is virtually no light. What happens to the light as it travels to the ocean floor?" (Light gets scattered and/or absorbed by particles in the water. The deeper you it goes, light encounters more "obstacles" and is scattered/absorbed so much that no free light is left travel downwards.)
"Does the above example represent total internal reflection even though some of the light is still projected outwards?" (That is exactly what you'll be investigating today.)
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