Waves / Light Resource Packet

Contents (with links) of the Waves Resource Packet by Topic

Mathematica, Maple, and Spreadsheet Waves Activities
(Individual Maple files are downloadable here)

'Active Learning' suggested classroom activities

Self-extracting Maple R3 files for PC. Zipped Maple files. (Convertible to Mac).	Self-extracting Maple R4 files for PC. Zipped Maple files. (Convertible to Mac).
Self-extracting Mathematica files for PC. Zipped Mathematica files. (Convertible to Mac).	Self-extracting spreadsheet (Excel) file. Zipped spreadsheet (Excel) file.

These run reliably under Windows 95 if the following precautions are taken

Download both the executable file and the batch file. (The batch launches the executable.)
Save both in a directory whose name is 8 characters or less.
Double-click the batch file (not the executable) to launch the DOS program.

  Light refraction simulation. (Refraction at plane surface, two draggable sources, which give an object. Adjustable indices of refraction. Shows image formation, illustrates total internal reflection schematically.)
[Executable Refrac5.exe ]   [Batch refrac5.bat ]

  Lenses and Mirrors. (Draggable light source, two lenses or one mirror. Illustrates real and virtual images, virtual objects. Uses simple lens equation to locate image. Large array of rays can be drawn.)
[Executable Lensmir2.exe ]   [Batch lensmir2.bat ]

  Grating simulation. (Shows waves coming into grating in step. Slider selects output angle and user can see if waves are in step at that angle. Grayscale intensity pattern is available. Slider selects up to 6 slits.)
[Executable Gratinga.exe ]   [Batch gratinga.bat ]

  Wave interference simulation. (An extract of software marketed by Physics Academic Software. It illustrates what a phasor represents. It shows one and two phasor interference. It shows grayscale patterns of 2-source interference and ties path difference (a bar graph shows how much path difference) to a phasor diagram, and to the grayscale plot. Advanced features are not enabled.)
Problem statements for the wave interference simulation (21 problems).
Problem solutions for the wave interference simulation.
[Executable waveintx.exe ]   [Batch waveintx.bat ]

Back to the Packets Project Main Page