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This book is designed to be a quick and easy resource for anyone teaching physics for the first time. Written after extensive research, this book is filled with reliable labs, demos and activities that work well in the classroom. Also included are lesson plans, diagrams, and teacher notes for every activity. The book is not the end--it is just a beginning, a bag of tricks teachers can build upon. Soon you and your students will realize that a day without physics does not exist and that physics is a "phun" adventure. Contents include: (1) Teacher Background Information; (2) Getting Started: Possible First Day Activities; (3) Analysis of Data; (4) Kinematics: Motion in One Dimension; (5) Motion in Two Dimensions and Vectors; (6) Dynamics; (7) Momentum; (8) Universal Gravitation; (9) Centripetal Motion; (10) Energy, Work, and Power; (11) Electrostatics; (12) DC Circuits; (13) Magnetism and Magnetic Fields; (14) Waves and Sound; (15) Optics; and (16) Assessment Ideas and Suggestions.

The key to learning is student involvement! This American Association of Physics Teachers/Physics Teaching Resource Agents (AAPT/PTRA) manual presents examples of two techniques that are proven to increase student involvement in your classroom. Based on the "5E" model of learning, exploratories are designed to get your students excited about the material they will explore in your classroom with you. Practicums are a unique method for measuring a class' learning in an "authentic" manner that will ensure the whole class is excited and totally immersed in the process. Contents divide into three sections. Section 1 presents, Introduction: The Learning Cycle. Section 2, What Is an Exploratory, contains: Assembling an Exlporatory; Sample First Day Exploratory; and exploratories on motion, dynamics, energy, heat and thermodynamics, waves and sound, the nature of light, electricity, magnetism, and atomic and nuclear. Also included are individual lessons on Newton's Laws and Forces. Section 3, The Practicum, contains the following practicums: Light and Optics: Critical Angle; Dynamics: Centripetal Force; Static Equilibrium: Beams in Equilibrium; Momentum/Energy: Jumping Frame; Momentum/Energy: Tarzan; Electricity: Direct Current Circuit; Momentum/Energy: Humpty Dumpty; DC Circuits: Circuits 11; Waves and Sound: Interference Trombone; Kinematics: Projectile Range; Kinematics: Colliding Cars; and Dynamics: Accelerating Cart. Appended to this guide are: (1) Home Made String Machine; (2) An Old Periscope with a New "Twist"; and (3) The Interference Trombone.

This document--intended to help technology education teachers plan their classroom curriculum for secondary school and college students--contains units on exploring high-impact technology, microcomputers as technological tools, integrated manufacturing systems (the future of design and production), the role of robotics in integrated manufacturing systems, mass transit, communicating with light using lasers and fiber optics, automated warehousing, and new materials. The sociocultural impact of those topics and the relationship of each to the common elements of technological systems are covered in each unit. Units also typically include narrative information, line illustrations, a glossary of technical terms, an audiovisual aid, a construction activity, examples of how math and science can be used to support the students' construction activities and provide the motivation for students to make the connections between technical education and math and science, a student quiz, possible student outcomes, and references. (CML)

This publication contains a sequence of lectures given to high school mathematics teachers by the author. Applications of mathematics emphasized are elementary algebra, geometry, and matrix algebra. Included are: (1) an introduction concerning teaching applications of mathematics; (2) Chapter 1: Mechanics for the High School Student; (3) Chapter 2: Growth Functions; (4) Chapter 3: The Role of Mathematics in Optics; (5) Chapter 4: Application of Matrix Algebra. Included in each chapter are background materials, examples, some teaching suggestions, and some exercises. (RH)

This textbook presents elementary principles of mechanics, hydrostatics, hydraulics, pneumatics, acoustics, pyronomics [sic], optics, electricity, galvanism, magnetism, electromagnetism, magneto-electricity, and astronomy. Among topics covered are descriptions and illustrations of McCormick's reaper, Sharps' Rifle, printing presses, House's printing telegraph, manufacture of percussion caps, the organ, monochord, hygrometer, harmonicon, air-gun, dipping needle, and much new matter on electromagnetism.

Benjamin Franklin was the first great American scientist. This book contains activities which are organized into six subjects that Benjamin Franklin investigated: observation and experimentation, meteorology, electricity, sound and music, paper and printing, and lenses and vision. At the end of each chapter is a list of resources and ideas. The book includes a timeline of the life of Benjamin Franklin. (MKR)

This is a textbook of Fourier optics for the classroom or self-study. Major topics included in the 38 chapters are: Huygens' principle and Fourier transforms; image formation; optical coherence theory; coherent imaging; image analysis; coherent noise; interferometry; holography; communication theory techniques; analog optical computing; phase contrast imaging; partially filled, sysnthetic-aperture imaging systems; and optical lithographic printers. References are included in each chapter. (YP)

The optical behaviour of the human eye is often characterized with the Zernike coeficients. Great number of measurements and statistical data are available for individuals and for various groups of people concerning the Zernike coeficients of their eyes. Although, these coeficients were obtained from measurements at discrete points and via computations using some discretization of the continuous Zernike functions, the developers of these algorithms could not rely on the discrete orthogonality Zernike functions, simply because no mesh of points ensuring discrete orthogonality was known. Only recently was such a mesh of points found and reported. In the present paper, this mesh is used to calculate Zernike coeficients for some artificial cornea-like surfaces. Tests were carried out and are reported herein on the precision of the discrete orthogonality obtained via the mentioned discretization and on the precision of the surface reconstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time series of abundance indices from scientific surveys are often the backbone in assessing the present state and expected development of exploited fish stocks. However, landing statistics, which have associated uncertainties often set the historic trends, and thus might be misleading with respect to ecosystem dynamics. The extended demand in the ecosystem approach is to consider the welfare of the whole ecosystem. Can this be done adequately with traditional tools? And what solutions can be expected from new technologies? Future methods must enable quantitative observation of biotic densities with adequate resolution in both time and space. We also need to quantify the dynamics, including inter- and intra-specific competition and interactions between biology and environment. Advanced technology and knowledge have created a new scientific base for the ecosystem approach. Remote sensing techniques based on acoustics and optics offer both detailed and overview pictures, and can be deployed in time and space from innovative platforms and vessels of opportunity. Remote categorisation of information, e.g. species and size identification, is no longer a dream and modern observation techniques give the scientists information about processes with adequate time resolution. In the short term, we need to uncover the actual efficiencies of sampling trawls. The research should aim at establishing sampling tools based on knowledge of behavioural stimuli and responses of the target species rather than traditional ideas in trawl construction. In the long term, the limiting factor is not the technology, but our ability to develop integrated observation-modelling solutions that merge complex data from a multitude of sensors and platforms and extract the essential information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The “organization of knowledge” is a large and diffuse topic which can be studied at many different levels, ranging from the way an individual orders his or her understanding of the world privately or in publications, to the ways in which communities or institutions order knowledge, notably in pedagogical curricula and textbooks, professional structures, libraries and library catalogs, and other collective projects. Although a few modern philosophers have addressed the problem of classifying knowledge, current practices of classification are mostly studied by anthropologists and sociologists. Modern cultures and subcultures engage in both explicit and tacit classifications of knowledge, but today any particular organization of knowledge is generally acknowledged to involve a number of arbitrary choices and its success is often measured by pragmatic criteria of effectiveness, such as ease of use and economic efficiency. But this skeptical attitude toward the possibility of any organization matching the reality of knowledge or of the world is a fairly modern development, articulated for example in Jean Le Rond d'Alembert's “preliminary discourse” to the Encyclopédie of 1751. In Renaissance Europe, on the contrary, many thinkers harbored the ambition of implementing the perfect organization of knowledge, though pragmatic, notably alphabetical, arrangements were also widespread in certain contexts. During the Renaissance the difficulty of ordering knowledge was greatly exacerbated in almost every field by the massive influx of material to be included, stemming from newly discovered worlds and newly recovered ancient texts as well as newly printed texts of all kinds, and by concurrent social and cultural changes associated with the development of printing, a rapid growth in higher education, and shifting patterns of patronage and social mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Results from a recent survey on MSCT practice in Germany indicate that 2-slice scanners (which are mainly former Elscint Twin scanners) are used at dose levels comparable with modern SSCT scanners, while dose values related with 4-slice scanner protocols are currently significantly, but not alarmingly, higher. The main reasons are: (1) reduced slice thickness, which tempts the users to increase the electrical current-time product in order to compensate for increased noise, (2) overbeaming due to penumbral effects, which are most pronounced at narrow slice collimation, and (3) reduced transparency of the implications of parameter settings on dose. The key factor to reduce dose at MSCT systems with N ≥ 4 to a level comparable to modern single-slice and dual-slice scanners is to appreciate the improved detail contrast achieved with thin slices due to reduced partial volume effect. This overcompensates for the drawback of increased noise. Thus, at least the same dose level as for modern SSCT scanners should be attainable. Furthermore, new technical means have the potential for dose reduction. It should be emphasized, however, that technical means are only a prerequisite, but no guarantee for dose reduction. Of greatest importance is appropriate training and guidance of the medical and technical staff operating the MSCT scanner with respect to the specific factors determining patient exposure and its reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chapter 5 of the book "Light: Stop Faking It! Finally Understanding Science So You Can Teach It" is presented. It explores the general overview of light waves and the kinds of addition known as interference for small sources of light and diffraction for large number of sources of light. It also explores several applications of interference and diffractions such as the rainbow as produced by compact discs and the effects of hologram.

The article information related to reflector antennas. A critical component in a high-performance wireless telecommunications system is the antenna, which couples signals carried by wires into and from waves propagating through space. Most telecommunications applications involve links with distant stations. The gain of an antenna is the measure of field intensity in a particular direction relative the average intensity over all directions. While the radiation pattern of a reflector antenna is determined by diffraction analysis of the fields across its radiating aperture, the conventional method for reflector shape synthesis and optimization makes use of geometric optics.

This article discusses the extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic wave propagation. ELF electromagnetic waves are currently the lowest frequency waves used routinely for wireless communication. Communication system performance analysis and most geophysical applications require accurate, quantitative models of ELF propagation. Because the ELF fields are confined to a region comparable to or smaller than a wavelength, phenomena in ELF transmission and propagation are substantially different from those at higher frequencies. But before delving too deeply into the relevant mathematics, a qualitative description will give substantial insight into the physics of ELF transmission, propagation, and reception.

A graphics display that outputs a virtual scene destined to be viewed by a single user is called a personal graphics display. Such images may be monoscopic or stereoscopic. monocular, or binocular. Head-Mounted Displays (HMD) project an image floating some 1-5. They use special optics placed between the HMD small image panels and the users eyes in order to allow the eyes to focus at such short distances without tiring easily. Optics is also needed to magnify the small panel image to fill as much as possible of the eyes field of view.

This chapter focuses on the role of optical fibers as a communication channel in lightwave systems. Geometrical-optics description is used to explain the guiding mechanism and introduce the related basic concepts. Maxwell's equations are used to describe wave propagation in optical fibers. The origin of fiber dispersion is provided and the limitations on the bit rate and the transmission distance imposed by fiber dispersion is considered. The loss mechanisms in optical fibers are presented as well as a discussion of the nonlinear effects. The chapter concludes with a presentation of manufacturing details followed by a discussion of the design of fiber cables. A problem solving section appears at the end of the chapter. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The chapter begins with an explanation of the reasons dispersion management is needed. Methods used at the transmitter and receiver for managing the dispersion are discussed, and the use of seven high-dispersion optical elements along the fiber link are considered. The technique of optical phase conjugation is given, and the dispersion management in long-haul systems is presented. A focus on high-capacity systems is given by considering broadband, tunable, and higher-order compensation techniques. A discussion of polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) compensation concludes the chapter followed by a problem solving section. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents an index for terms which were used in the journal "Encyclopedia of Imaging Science & Technology."

The article focuses on scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM), a scanned probe microscopy technique invented after the demonstration of the scanning tunneling microscope. There are two principal image-forming modes in SECM. The feedback mode uses the faradaic current that flows from electrolysis of an intentionally added or naturally present mediator species at an ultramicroelectrode probe. The general/collection mode uses the probe to detect changes in the concentration of a chemical species at the surface of the imaged material. SECM is used for investigating corrosion processes on metallic samples as well as for non-imaging purposes.

The article focuses on imaging system based on terahertz radiation. Terahertz radiation lies between microwave and infrared frequencies. It has widespread potential applications in medicine, microelectronics, agriculture, forensic science. Coherent terahertz time-domain spectroscopy that has an ultrawide bandwidth provides a new method for characterizing the electronic, vibronic, and compositional properties of solid, liquid, and gas phase materials, as well as flames and flows. In an imaging system that bas a single terahertz antenna, the image is obtained by pixel-scanning the sample in two dimensions done with the help of free-space electro-optic detection.

The article focuses on various aspects of still photography. Still photography is the use of a lighttight device or camera that holds a light-sensitive detector and permits controlled exposure to light by using a lens that has diaphragm control and a shutter. Professional photography involves documentary, reportage, scientific recording, commercial/ advertising, and fine art shooting. Photographic perspective is also controlled by the choice of optics like focal length of lenses, angle view of the object. The process of exposing silver halide light-sensitive materials, in camera, relies on the range of density formed on a developed negative.

The article overviews scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM), which is one of the more advanced ultrasonic imaging technologies. SAM is a viable nondestructive method that has high-resolution defect visualization to determine elastic parameters in both the medical and the industrial fields. The resolution of an image formed by the SAM is determined by the frequency of the wave, the velocity of the coupling medium, and the lens geometry. Contrast enhancement is another way to increase imaging quality. SAM can observe both the surface and subsurface of a specimen. It is also capable of quantitative data acquisition.

The article focuses on the innovations in optical microscopy. Advances in digital imaging and analysis have also enabled microscopists to acquire quantitative measurements quickly and efficiently on specimens. Proper illumination of the specimen is crucial in achieving high-quality images in microscopy and critical photomicrography. In 1893 scientist August Kohler of Carl Zeiss Corp. improvised microscopic illumination to provide optimum specimen illumination that is uniformly bright and free from glare and thus allows the user to realize the microscope's full potential. The article also discusses applications and features of optical microscopy.

Among the notable eighteenth-century expositions of Newton's achievements were Henry Pemberton's A View of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy (1728), Willem Jacob 's Gravesande's Mathematical Elements of Natural Philosophy confirm'd by experiments: or, an introduction to Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy (6th edn, 1747), and Colin Maclaurin's posthumous An Account of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophical Discoveries (1748). To the modern eye, there is something puzzling about these titles. We note the terms “philosophy,” “natural philosophy,” and “philosophical,” and we wonder what they mean in this setting. Take Maclaurin's Account, the best of the genre, and written by one of the leading Newtonians of the day. Newton made great scientific discoveries, and we can learn what most of them are from reading An Account, but what philosophical discoveries did he make? Maclaurin describes Newton's work in mechanics, rational and celestial, and in physics, theoretical and experimental (though not optics). But Newton the philosopher? To answer these questions requires a preliminary disentanglement of the disciplinary classifications that clustered around the business of “philosophy” in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After his first optical publications in 1672 Newton was identified by his contemporaries and later generations as a supporter of the corpuscular or emission theory of light, in which light is assumed to consist of corpuscles, or atoms, emitted from a luminous source such as the Sun. While it is true that Newton believed in a corpuscular theory, utilized it in developing many of his optical experiments and theories, and argued vigorously against the wave theory of light, he never believed that it was a demonstrated scientific truth and considered it to be only a probable hypothesis. This distinction explains why, for example, he never set forth a synthetic account of the emission theory and eschewed it in his public accounts of his scientific theories. In order to understand Newton's advocacy and use of atomism in his optics it is necessary to understand his views on hypotheses and certainty in science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isaac Newton deserves to be included in a series of companions to major philosophers even though he was not a philosopher in the sense in which Descartes, Locke, and Kant were philosophers. That is, Newton made no direct contributions to epistemology or metaphysics that would warrant his inclusion in the standard list of major philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries - Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant - or even in a list of other significant philosophers of the era - Bacon, Hobbes, Arnauld, Malebranche, Wolff, and Reid. The contributions to knowledge that made Newton a dominant figure of the last millennium were to science, not to philosophy. By contrast, Galileo, the other legendary scientific figure of the era, not only published the most compelling critique of Aristotelian scholasticism in his Dialogues on the Two Chief World Systems, but in the process turned the issue of the epistemic authority of theology versus the epistemic authority of empirical science into a hallmark of modern times. Although Newton clearly sympathized with Galileo, he wrote virtually nothing critical of the Aristotelian tradition in philosophy, and the immense effort he devoted to theology was aimed not at challenging its epistemic authority, but largely at putting it on a firmer footing. Newton made no direct contributions to philosophy of a similar magnitude. Indeed, from his extant writings alone Newton has more claim to being a major theologian than a major philosopher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that the application of smart coating with mechanoluminescence (ML) layer to analyze dynamic stress not only provides a new method for nondestructive evaluation of materials, but this smart coating has opened a window on developing new smart systems and optomechanical devices. In particular, the ML smart coating technique holds much promise for observing the stress distribution with high spatial resolution using ML materials with nanoscale particles and the optical microscopy with high resolution. Although more experiments are needed, in the near future stress distributions in a scale smaller than micrometers should become observable as image techniques are combined with microscopy.

For the WearComp reality mediator to be of use in everyday life, it must not have an unusual appearance, especially given its use in corrupt settings such as dishonest sales establishments, gambling casinos, corrupt customs border stations, and political institutions where human rights violations are commonplace or where objections are likely to be raised to recording apparatus. Possible solutions to this problem are discussed in this chapter. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]