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You
are now ready to do some experiments with the class that illustrate
some of what optical engineering is all about.
-
State
that these experiments explore several ways to “see”
the colors in white light. You are prepared to reveal certain
“secrets” that might not be obvious to others when
doing these experiments. [The “trick”
aspect to these demos works well with 6th graders!]
-
Put
up the overhead of your take-home flyer and walk the students
through the salient features that describe “optics”
and what it takes to be successful in this career. [The
flyer should be handed out at the end of the class.]
-
On
the other side of our flyer is a schematic of the OMEGA Laser
at the University of Rochester. With your transparency, you
might want to point out the size of this laser system (equal
to the length of a football field).
-
Mention
that 200 people with technical degrees in optical engineering,
photonics, physics, electronics, computer engineering and mechanical
engineering work on this giant experiment to generate energy
from sea wate
Note
that you have three experiments: color by diffraction, color
by polarization,
and color by selective reflection (see Figure 2.)
| Rainbow
Peephole™ |
Magic
Stripes
|
Magic
Patch
|
 |
 |
 |
| diffraction |
polarization
|
selective
reflection
|
| Figure
2. Three theme packets explore colors in white light and are
given to students to take home. |
Copyright
by Stephen D. Jacobs, Rebecca L. Coppens and Christine Andrews-Angelo
December 24, 2001
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