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Curated OER

Reflection and Refraction

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
What is a prism? A place for light waves that commit minor refractions! The thorough resource includes three hands-on investigations covering light reflection and refraction; mirrors, lenses, and images; and optical systems. Subject...
Activity
It's About Time

Refraction of Light

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Don't shine like a diamond, refract light like a diamond. Young scientists use an acrylic block and a laser light to observe refraction. Advanced scholars figure the sine of the angles of reflection and incidence as well as mastering...
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Georgia State University

Georgia State University: Hyper Physics: Reflection and Refraction

For Students 9th - 10th
Reflection and refraction are explained with an experiment that uses a sheet of paper, cardboard, and other common materials.
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Florida State University

Florida State University: Molecular Expressions Microscopy Primer: Light and Color Refraction of Light

For Students 9th - 10th
Comprehensive and sophisticated overview of light refraction includes an historical overview of the subject and explanations of the mathematics that underpin refractive indexes, the relative index of refraction, Snell's law, and light...
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Georgia State University

Georgia State University: Hyper Physics: Methods of Polarization

For Students 9th - 10th
At this college physics department site, the polarization of light is explained and illustrated as well as the primary methods of polarization (scattering, reflection, and refraction).
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Wikimedia

Wikipedia: Refracting Telescope

For Students 9th - 10th
Wikipedia provides detailed information on refracting telescopes, including an image, technical difficulties, and a hyperlinked list to info on notable refracting telescopes.
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Georgia State University

Georgia State University: Hyper Physics: Total Internal Reflection

For Students 9th - 10th
This physics department site provides a definition and explanation of the phenomenon of total internal reflection. Includes a diagram and an equation for calculating the critical angle for light approaching a surface.
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Cosmos 4 kids

Cosmos4 Kids: Exploration:telescopes

For Students 3rd - 8th
Learn how telescopes work .. terms like reflection, refraction, different kinds of lens, and more. The brief, to the point text makes this site most suitable for younger researchers.
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Georgia State University

Georgia State University: Hyper Physics: Behavior of Incident Light

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from Georgia State University is an indexing page for several other pages on the topic of reflection. Topics are treated in an understandable manner and utilize meaningful graphics.
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Other

Byju's: Physics: Reflection of Waves

For Students 9th - 10th
Explains what happens to a wave when it hits a fixed end or a free end.
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University of Chicago

University of Chicago: Reflector and Refractor

For Students 9th - 10th
From the Yerkes Observatory Virtual Tour web site. Compares and contrasts reflecting and refracting telescopes. A link from the page leads to a second page which explains why most modern research telescopes are reflecting telescopes.
Handout
Optical Society

Optical Society of America: Optics for Kids: Guiding Light Optical Fiber

For Students 3rd - 8th
This experiment demonstrates the concept of total internal reflection, using basic materials. Accompanied by a detailed explanation of what's happening, and links to articles on reflection and refraction.
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Physics Classroom

The Physics Classroom: Lesson 3: Concave Mirrors

For Students 9th - 10th
Lesson 3 of this tutorial on refraction is on concave mirrors. Content that is covered includes the anatomy of curved mirrors, reflection of light and image formation, ray diagrams, image characteristics for concave mirrors, plus more.
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Other

Transverse and Longitudinal Wave Propagation in an Elastic Medium

For Students 9th - 10th
Extensive information about how waves behave in an elastic medium. Covers different types of waves, their characteristics and behavior, the anatomy of the ear, the speed of sound in different media, the parts of a wave, and wave phenomena.
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Boston University

Bu: Optics: Geometric Optics

For Students 9th - 10th
Several short descriptions of demonstrations which illustrate principles of geometric optics (many of which focus upon refraction).
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Georgia State University

Georgia State University: Hyper Physics: Crossed Polarizers

For Students 9th - 10th
At this univeristy physics department site, the polarization of light is explained and illustrated. Methods for analyzing light to determine the degree of polarization are stated and explained with equations.
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Georgia State University

Georgia State University: Hyper Physics: Polarization by Absorption

For Students 9th - 10th
The operation of Polaroid filters on a pair of sunglasses is shown.
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Optical Society

Optical Society of America: Optics for Kids: Lenses and Geometrical Optics

For Students 3rd - 8th
Article explaining what lenses are and how they work. At the end of the article, there are links to several hands-on activities for investigating lenses.
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Physics Classroom

The Physics Classroom: Light Waves and Color

For Students 9th - 10th
The behavior of light waves is introduced and discussed. Also, polarization, color, diffraction, and interference are introduced and discussed thoroughly as supporting evidence of the wave nature of light.
Handout
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: Physics: Geometric Optics Study Guide

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn and understand geometric optics with this review resource.
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University of Maryland

Optics Highlights: The Telescope

For Students 9th - 10th
Part of an anecdotal history of optics and the study of light. Extremely thorough treatment of the invention of the telescope. Includes a short biographical sketch and discusses the work of Isaac Newton which focuses on his contribution...
Handout
Oklahoma Mesonet

Oklahoma Climatological Survey: Overview of Radiation

For Students 9th - 10th
This site details what radiation is, the physics of radiation, and radiative transfer as it occurs in nature. Content explores the electromagnetic spectrum, electromagnetic waves, properties of radiation, and solar radiation.
Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: Wave

For Students 9th - 10th
An in-depth encyclopedia article from Wikipedia on waves gives a definition for what a wave is. Other content in the article includes a list of examples and characteristics of waves, information about the difference between transverse...
Handout
Jewelry Central

Jewelry Central: Diamond

For Students 9th - 10th
Discusses in detail the grading of diamonds, as well as briefly discussing their structure, physical properties, and historical background. Accompanied by clear illustrations.

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