Optics

Event Overview
Optics is a National trial lab event that will become an official event for Division B during the 2011 season. This event deals with geometric and physical optics, such as reflection, refraction, critical angle, electromagnetic and visible spectrum, and mirrors. Competitors for this event may bring any type of calculator and should have knowledge of SI units, as all answers will require a student to know and understand them.

Introduction to optics
Optics is a science which studies light.

Reflection
The laws of reflection state:


 * 1) The incident ray, the reflected ray and the normal to the reflection surface at the point of the incidence lie in the same plane.
 * 2) The angle which the incident ray makes with the normal is equal to the angle which the reflected ray makes to the same
 * 3) Light paths are reversible.

Sample Questions
Example Station 1: Measure the focal length of convex and/or concave lenses and/or mirrors

Example Station 2: Using ray-tracing techniques, find the image/object locations of one and/or two lens and/or mirror systems. Specify the image/object characteristics (real/virtual, magnification, erect/inverted, object/image distances, lens/mirror focal lengths).

Example Station 3: Set up mirrors and/or lenses to direct a beam of light on to a target around an obstacle. The object is to have the student set up the problem, but the supervisor turns on a light such as a Maglite (or laser). For the first year prisms are not to be used!

Example Station 4: The object is to align a beam from a light source provided by the officials to bounce off all given mirrors (Division C only may also include lenses and refraction) to strike a given target. Students will begin with a set number of points and then points will be deducted for the time it takes to set up the devices and the distance that the light ends up from the center point of the target.