week of october 5th

hi:)

This week we started talking about analogies.  An analogy is a comparison between two things. We compared light to all different things such as: a cheetah, a bouncy ball/basketball, and sound. Light is like a  cheetah because it travels fast!!! Light is like a bouncy ball and a basketball because it bounces off of things. Light is like sound because it travels in waves. We also talked about the difference between a hypothesis and a prediction. Hypothesis: can be proven and disproved. It is a very general statement. Prediction: is the expected outcome. It is a very specific statement. We then talked about the particle model of light. It shows that light travels in packs of particles!!! (WOW). After that we talked about the law of reflection. The law of reflection is that the angle of reflection=angle of incidence. After we learned that we did a test with a laser and a pitcher of water. There were two predictions left after we finished crossing stuff out (C&E). Both of the predictions showed that there would be two laser dots in the pitcher. Then we did an experiment with a ruler in a tub thing of water. The ruler had the image that it was bent. When it hit the water it looked like it somehow reflected or bent. The ruler wasn't actually bent, it was the light that bounced off of it that made it look like it was bent. Then on wednesday we made a venn diagram. It was Particles vs. Waves. Isaac Newton was the man that believed light traveled in particles. Christiaan Huygens was the man that believed light traveled in waves. They both thought it reflected. We then discussed how the light travels through the prism (like in the video that we did for homework). It supports the Particle Model Model of light because it reflects off objects. It also traveled in a narrow straight line. The video showed that the light was bending when it hit the prism and when it was leaving. Then we we talked about what the light waves do when they hit a rooftop.  We found out that they go around the roof because the waves can't go through it.  We did an experiment with the water coming out of the faucet when there was a block blocking some of the waves. Even though the block was blocking some water (waves) the end of the tub was rippling. I learned that after the wave hits an object, it spreads out. It is so important to learn these ideas because light is everywhere and it will always be with us!!!! FORREEVVVEERRRR!!!! 

The particle model of light is confusing because you can't actuall see the particles. You can't touch them either so it's hard to understand it.

okkkaayy, thats all

bye:) 

K.Gagliano