Syllabus
Tasks and hands-on experiments on:
Straight propagation of light. Sources of light, using of "pen" lasers, safety preacautions.
Plane, cylinder and spherical mirrors - reflection of rays, imaging, aberrations.
Lenses - refraction of rays, measuring of focal distance, imaging, aberrations. Principles of telescope and microscope. Model of human eye, optical illusions.
Refraction of light at boundaries, simple measurements of refraction index, apparent depth of an object in water. Dispersion of light by prism, colours, mixing of colours. Refraction of light in a water droplet, rainbow.
Light as waves: diffraction on edge, slit, thin obstacle. Optical gratings, using CD, DVD and other single means. Interference on a thin layer. Polarization of light by refraction and scattering, polarization filters. Intensity of light, simple photometry.
Annotation
Optional seminar for future physics teachers aimed at developing and extending of elementary concepts of geometrical and wave optics by means of simple hands-on experiments done by students.