week of 1O/12/O9 :)

This week in science we learned that when light hits something like glass or water, it refracts. We learned that when light enters a medium, it bends away from the normal line. When it exits the medium, the light bends towards the normal line. We also learned that light waves travel faster in air, and the waves are further apart. When light travels through something more dense, the waves travel slower and get closer together. This is important to know because now we understand what light does when it goes through a surface.
Mr.Finley gave us a question this week. The question was, "What does light do when it hits a surface?" The choices were reflect, refract, always reflects and refracts, sometimes reflects and refracts or other. Lots of people said it sometimes reflects and refracts. Then, we did an experiment. We shined the laser pointer on Owen's shirt, and observed that the red light bounced off, and so did green light because his shirt was green. Also, his shirt absorbed some light. We realized that the answer was other, because light also gets absorbed when it hits a surface. This is important because now we know that light reflects, refracts, and gets absorbed when it hits a surface.
We also watched a video this week. The video was of two slinkies connected together. One was very stretched out, and one was really close together [dense]. In the video, someone shook one side of the slinky, and we saw the waves go through the whole slinky. On the less dense slinky, the waves were largend spread apart. On the more dense slinky, the waves were closer together and smaller. By watching this video, we learned that the slinky is just like light waves. This is important because now we have a better understanding of the light wave model.