Patterns of Light

by Beeson, Steven; Mayer, James W.

• ISBN13: 9780387751061
• ISBN10: 0387751068
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-01-03
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

This book begins by addressing properties of light as seen in the everyday world: events such as refraction in a pool, lenses in the form of glasses, the colors of objects, atmospheric events, etc. Latter chapters would explain these events at the atomic and subatomic level and address the use of electron and optical microscopy in observing the worlds unseen by the unaided eye. The book is an elegant, and aesthetically pleasing volume that is intended for science students, and will be enjoyed by those with a background in optics. Exercises and activities will be found in an appendix, but the primary volume can stand alone if the reader so desires. There are several well-written and extensive volumes in the "physics of light and color" market; however, Patterns of Light will fill a niche by providing an overview of the entire electromagnetic spectrum, rather than simply focusing on visible light.

Table of Contents

The Path of Light	p. 1
The Straight and Narrow	p. 1
The Fastest Thing Around	p. 3
Standing in the Shadows	p. 5
The Reversible Path of Light	p. 7
The World through a Hole	p. 8
A Room with a View	p. 10
The Reflection of Light	p. 13
Reflections on the Past	p. 13
All Things Equal	p. 15
From the Looking Glass	p. 16
The Curved Mirror	p. 19
Shaving and a Spoon	p. 20
The Rough Edges	p. 22
Daguerreotypes: Light Captured	p. 25
A Race to Capture Light	p. 25
Tripping the Light Fantastic	p. 26
It's all in the Reflection	p. 29
The Refraction of Light	p. 33
From Galaxy to Fish	p. 33
Altering the Speed of Light	p. 33
The Light Brigade	p. 36
The Properties of Waves	p. 38
On the Beach	p. 40
The Law of Refraction	p. 42
The Refractive Index	p. 43
Total Internal Reflection	p. 45
Diffraction: Newton's Mistake	p. 46
Lenses: From Water Drops to Telescopes	p. 49
Viewing the Unknown	p. 49
The Focal Length	p. 50
Of Objects, Images, and Burning Glasses	p. 52
Burning Glasses	p. 53
Measuring Magnification	p. 55
The Compound Microscope	p. 57
A New Microscope	p. 59
Inside the SEM	p. 62
Optical versus Electron Microscopy	p. 64
Seeing the Distant	p. 66
Imperfect Light	p. 67
The Most Advanced Camera	p. 69
Still an Imperfect Camera	p. 71
Sources of Light and Color	p. 75
Crossroads	p. 75
Waves, Rebounding	p. 75
Waves, Unfolding	p. 78
Photons, Reflecting	p. 80
The Color of Objects	p. 82
Sources of Light	p. 83
Replacing Edison	p. 85
Revolution in White Light Sources	p. 86
Tricking Photons with Lasers	p. 87
Structural Color	p. 88
The Eye and Color Sensation	p. 89
Diffraction and Interference	p. 91
Light as a Wave	p. 91
Wave Interference	p. 91
Young's Interference	p. 93
Color from Interference	p. 94
Soap Bubbles	p. 95
Oil Slicks and Lens Coatings	p. 96
Newton's Rings	p. 99
Birds of a Feather	p. 99
Diffraction	p. 100
Diffraction Gratings	p. 101
Rainbows	p. 103
Through the Looking Glass	p. 103
The Pot of Gold	p. 103
A Rainbow by Hand	p. 105
The Antisolar Point	p. 106
Rainbows in 3D	p. 108
The Double Rainbow	p. 109
The Light inside a Rainbow	p. 112
Rainbows Far Afield	p. 113
Sea, Sky, and Cloud	p. 115
Beam of Light	p. 115
The Color of Sky	p. 115
The Color of Sea	p. 116
The Color of Smoke	p. 118
White Clouds and Smoke	p. 119
Salt with your Beer?	p. 122
The Remains of the Day	p. 123
The Shadow in the East	p. 125
Beyond the Horizon	p. 125
An Oasis in the Sahara (or the Arctic)	p. 127
Sundogs and Halos	p. 129
Polarized Light and Sunglasses	p. 131
Sunglasses	p. 131
Polarized Light	p. 132
Polarization by Reflection	p. 133
Polarization by Scattering	p. 134
Polarization by Absorption	p. 135
Calcite and Double Refraction	p. 136
Polarization and the Eye	p. 138
Photons, Electrons, and the Atom	p. 139
Light is Created and Destroyed	p. 139
Packets of Energy	p. 139
The Electron	p. 140
The Bohr Model of the Atom	p. 142
Light and Electrons	p. 142
Electrons and the Spectrum	p. 143
X-ray Energies	p. 145
Characteristic X-rays	p. 146
X-rays, Ultraviolet Light, and Infrared	p. 147
Beyond the Visible	p. 147
Discoveries beyond the Visible	p. 148
Infrared (IR) Radiation	p. 148
Ultraviolet (UV) Radiation	p. 149
X-radiation (X-rays)	p. 149
Light Absorption	p. 152
X-ray Absorption	p. 152
Fluorescence with Ultraviolet Light	p. 153
Infrared Light	p. 154
Infrared Space Exploration	p. 154
X-ray Emission: Earth, Moon, and Mars	p. 157
The Moon	p. 157
X-ray Emission	p. 158
X-ray Fluorescence (XRF)	p. 158
Electron Microprobe and Electron Dispersive Spectrometry (EDS)	p. 160
Particle-Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE)	p. 162
	p. 165
References	p. 185
Index	p. 187
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