Some Web sites of interest and relevance to Physics 106

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Chapter 1:

Images of waves

Nice,simple animation of traveling wave

Intensity of blackbody vs. wave length at various temperatures User can supply 2 arbitrary temperatures (using Kelvin scale: from degrees Fahrenheit, subtract 32, multiply by 5/9, add 273.)

Section on microwave ovens, from "How Things Work"

Section on electric fields and xerographic copiers, from "How Things Work"

Why the sky is blue and related info (simple account)

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Chapter 2:

Beautiful site about solar eclipses, from Exploratorium in San Francisco

Subsuns

Nice, clear discussion of rainbows

Extensive information about rainbows, including religious, historical, and mythological commentary in addition to the usual physics

Several pages on rainbows and how they arise

Excellent discussion of properties of diamonds, many links to pictures, from geology class at U. Wisconsin

Nice page from Ohio U. connecting refraction with properties of diamonds; also some enlightening comments about rainbows

Somewhat technical but intriguing applet on rainbows

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Chapter 3:

Superb java applet illustrating ray tracing for mirrors and for lens, all cases

Simple animation of image (red arrow) vs. object (black arrow) for converging lens

Summary of terms for lenses and rules for ray tracing

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Chapter 4:

Section on cameras, from "How Things Work"

Concise, informative discussion of APS (Advanced Photo System)

Very readable, more expansive discussion of APS

Ritz Camera's site on APS

Agfa Photo's site concerning APS

Polaroid's home page

Home page of PC-Photo Forum's extensive site on digital photography, including educational primer

Kodak's site on digital photography

Home page of extensive site reviewing fancy digital photography equipment

Site on developing film, by Darkroom Photographic Products, Ltd.

Washington Post article on digital cameras; will disappear by 4/10/98

Washington Post article on transfering photo images to computer floppies; will disappear by 4/10/98

Extensive site on pinhole cameras

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Chapter 5:

Basics of the human eye, from U. of New Brunswick

Exercise to locate your blind spot

Nice description of many eye diseases

Good discussion of glaucoma, with nice illustrations

Effects of diving on the eye

Homepage of National Eye Institute at NIH leads to lots of info. Note especially: eye diagram and glossary of eye-related terms

Homepage of ISOO (International Society of Online Ophthalmologists), impressive source of information

Modeling the human eye, with computer visualization

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Chapter 6:

Nice pictures and discussion of correcting visual defects; ignore the math!

Section on telescopes and microscopes, from "How Things Work"

Optical Research Associates describe how lens systems are designed

Hubble Space Telescope and spherical aberration

Sophisticated, complicated applet for describing telescopes, projectors, use of field lens, ...

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Chapter 7:

Nice discussion of lateral inhibition

Lateral Inhibition Simulator (Try it! Send comments.)

"Perceptual Illusions and Phenomena": a very nice collection, illustrating simultaneous contrast, color constancy, Craik O'Brien Cornsweet Effect, Mach bands, assimilation demo's, Kanisza triangle, neon spreading, Hering grid, transparency, and white illusion

Craik-O'Brien illusion

Variant of Craik-O'Brien illusion, for circles

Hermann grid:Discussion in terms of center-surround processing and an alternative presentation; an historical note on Hermann's discovery of the phenomenon

"Blindsight": unconscious processing (A game to test your ability. Not discussed in text or class.)

Produce your own Contrast Sensitivity Function chart!

Discussion of perceptual constancy; somewhat more detailed than text, no pictures

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Chapter 8:

Lenticular products and images; visually impressive

Stereophotography; quite informative

Didik's lenticular guidebook

"Grand illusions"

"Illusionworks"

Trapezoidal window

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Chapter 9:

Several applets on color: This site was produced by a computer scientist as part of a master's thesis! There are lots of interesting things to explore that will amplify and clarify discussion in the text and in class. In particular, you should find the interactive chromaticity diagram very helpful.

Interactive color tree: you set the angle of "longitude." Note the use of chroma for what, essentially, we called saturation.

Simple, uncluttered applet on additive color mixing

Chromaticity diagram, blackbody color vs. temperature, and lots of computer resources

Cross-section of color tree = color wheel

Succinct, attractive site on additive and subtractive color mixing.

Color mixing, brief discussion and experiment in Psychology course

Site for use in picking colors for web pages

More elaborate color selector site

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Chapter 10:

Concise summary of theories of color vision, excellent summary graphic

Evolution of color vision

Abstracts about color vision in various animals

Scholarly essay on colorblindness

Evolution of color vision in mammals, contains lots of intriguing information and charts; has slow downloads and calls intermediate I-cone M (presumably for middle)

Lab experiment to show that your eye/retina can distinguish y-b farther from your fovea than r-g!

Color afterimage

Extensive, scholarly site on color vision by UVa psych prof.

Curious and amusing facts about the eye

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Chapter 11:

Brief discussion of color film

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Chapter 12:

Applet: "Interference Between Two Sinusoidal Waves"

Nice but mathy discussion of thin-film interference and of diffraction

Optical interference devices: industrial use of thin films

High vs. low resolution

On-line visual acuity (Snellen-type) eye test

Effect of ommatidia: "Seeing the world through the eyes of a honeybee"

Wordy discussion of insect vision

Elementary discussion of insect vision

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Chapter 13:

Why the sky is blue: light scattering

Color and polarized light activities

Brief discussion of polarization; part of extensive tutorial

Implications of polarization for business/industrial design

Extensive, informative site about polarization

Clear, extensive site on UV radiation's effect on people & animals

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Chapter 14:

Holography homepage, including free introductory on-line "book"

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Chapter 15:

Brief treatment of photoelectric effect

Section on lasers, from "How Things Work"

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General and Miscellaneous:

The Joy of Visual Perception: A Web Book, by Peter K. Kaiser with web/html support by Rod Potter: outstanding supplement to text, covering most of what we do, esp. chaps. 5, 7, & 9

Excellent, extensive site covering much of the course, by Optical Research Associates (Thanks to Eric R. Parks for finding this set of sites.) Note especially: 1) General overview of lens design , 2) Supplement to previous page, with some pictures similar to those used in class (and introduces useful idea of spot diagrams, not discussed in text), and 3) Site nominally for kids that offers a clear summary of properties of light and optics: nice way to review basics

Light exhibits from Exploratorium

Patterns in Nature: Collection of Light and Optics Activities, by Arizona State Univ.

Lecture notes, sample tests, etc., from a course on perception; somewhat more advanced and technical than Physics 106, with acoustics and psychology added.

Extensive, sophisticated site on Color & Vision Research at UCSD

Section on television, from "How Things Work"

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Websites of paintings shown in class

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Last Revised: 12 May 1998 by T. L. Einstein
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