SCIENCE, IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT
Bend a beam. Catch a rainbow. See how a few simple rules bring an image into focus.
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PREDICT → TRY → EXPLAIN
Load “Change a reflection.” Predict how the outgoing beam changes when you rotate the mirror by 10°.
Angles are measured from the surface normal. For a fixed incident ray that continues to hit the mirror, rotating the mirror by 10° rotates its reflected direction by 20°.
Load “Split white light.” Turn dispersion off, then increase it. Will the colors stay together?
In this glass model, shorter wavelengths have a larger refractive index and generally bend more. With dispersion at zero, all seven sampled wavelengths follow the same path.
Use a converging lens. Move the object from beyond 2f to inside f. Predict the image orientation.
Beyond f, the lens forms a real, inverted image. Inside f, outgoing rays diverge; their backward extensions meet in an upright, enlarged virtual image. At f, rays leave parallel and no finite image forms.