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Book Chapter
You're probably really upset that all you have so far is a simple little ray model of light. When do we get to the good stuff, you say? How about now?...
Book Chapter
It's time to take some of the things we know about light and put them to good use. In this chapter, the author discusses various optical instruments l...
Book Chapter
If you browse through the sunglasses at your local department store, you'll find that some of them are advertised as "polarized." What is it that make...
Book Chapter
Light doesn't always travel in straight lines. It can bend around corners, just like sound. When it does change direction like this, you end up with l...
Book Chapter
This chapter is, as the title indicates, all about eyeballs and how they work. We'll use just about everything we've learned so far, plus one or two n...
Book Chapter
Fire the Photon Torpedoes, Mr. Sulu!
Yeah, what about those photon torpedoes? Aren't photons supposed to be little light particles? Yes, they are, and they constitute the third model for ...
Book Chapter
Stop Children, What's That Sound?
Aging hippies might recognize the title of this chapter from an old Buffalo Springfield song. Others will just have to ignore it, and realize that thi...
Book Chapter
Unless you really haven't been paying attention to the world around you, you know that plucked strings produce sounds. Carlos Santana demonstrates th...
Book Chapter
Sound travels in waves, but those waves aren't exactly like waves on a string. One nice things is that sound waves have all the same relationships be...
Book Chapter
Harmonic convergence refers to a day back in 1987 where there was a particular planetary alignment. New Agers went crazy over the event, and if you w...
Book Chapter
Yep, you guessed it. This chapter is all about music. Yes, we've already talked about music and musical instruments, but we're going to get into thi...
Book Chapter
We've covered most of the basics of how sound is produced and transmitted, but we've left something out, and that's all the electronic devices we use ...
NSTA Press Book
Sound: Stop Faking It! Finally Understanding Science So You Can Teach It
Muddled about what makes music? Stuck on the study of harmonics? Dumbfounded by how sound gets around? Now you no longer have to struggle to teach c...
By William C. Robertson, Ph.D.
NSTA Press Book
Light: Stop Faking It! Finally Understanding Science So You Can Teach It
Why is left right and right left in the mirror? Baffled by the basics of reflection and refraction? Wondering just how the eye works? If you have trou...
By William C. Robertson, Ph.D.