Oct. 5-9

This week we continued learning about refraction, and we also learned about two models for light. One model says that light is particles, and the other says that light is waves. The waves theory was from Huygen, it says that waves go through 'luminiferous ether', it is like ripples in water, and it explains shadows well. Newton came up with the particles theory, it says that light is 'corpuscles', it is like bouncy balls off a wall, and it explains colors and rainbows. They could both explain reflection. It is important to understand both theories because certain theories could explain certain situations.

For homework one night, we watched a little clip and had to decide if it supported the theory of light refracting and the slope being less steep. After a lot of talking, we decided that waves represent refraction better. We also figured out that light waves a perpendicular to rays. The is also a line perpendicular to the surface of whatever the light is refracting through called the 'normal line'. When light refracts into a denser material, the light bends towards the normal line, and when it refracts into a less dense material, the light bends away from the normal line. This is important because now we can determine where the light will refract.