individuality

world happiness

rights and proper government

capitalism

This has shaped how I view the individual as so important and understanding how “finding yourself” is so encouraged at MA and to many people in western cultures. I also have been influenced to think of the world as sort of a business and profit= best for everyone, the ends justify the means when it comes to money, but I am not sure this is the way we should view the world.

2.Aristotle

Homer

Thales

Galileo Galilei

John Locke

Isaac Newton

Thomas Aquinas

Nocolaus Copernicus

Thomas Jefferson

Hippocrates

3. Much of Newton’s principles relied on proof and studies showing how the universe works just how western culture values the proof of things to believe them. Newton attempted to take logic and reason to the fundamental questions about the earth and the universe.

2) Physics Final: Peppers Ghost Project Outline

3) What are the main goals of your project, both in terms of what YOU want to learn, and what you intend to share with your classmates during your presentation?  How do you plan to present that information to your classmates?  What information is crucial to your goals, and which information might not be absolutely necessary?  For your presentation, do you have a clear introduction, well defined principle topics, and an organized conclusion?

4) Pepper’s Ghost Illusion Demonstration

5) PowerPoint Presentation

a) History of the Illusion

i) Invented by Professor John Henry Pepper and Henry Dircks

ii) Introduced into Victorian theatres in the 1860’s

b) Light Reflection and Refraction

i) Reflection: light is reflected when it is returned into the same medium from which it came

(1) Fermat’s principle of least time: “out of all possible paths that light must travel to get from one point to another, it travels the path that requires the shortest time”

(2) The Law of Reflection: The angel of incidence equals the angle of reflection (diagram 28.6 in book)

(a) Explain Fermat’s principle of least time and how the light finds the shortest distance (I think this will help them understand how the virtual image appears the same distance away in the mirror compared to the actual object? Figure 28.4)

(b) shortest distance does not always equal shortest time – this is the case as light travels at different speeds through different materials

(3) The object in front of the mirror emits an infinite number of light rays in all directions (whether it is the light of the candle or a spotlight on an object), these light rays are then reflected off the mirror (4% of light rays are reflected off of glass surfaces while 90% of light is reflected of polished silver or aluminum)

(4) Brain cannot differentiate the virtual image from the real image

(a) Light does not change frequency during reflection (i.e. virtual image is same color as actual image)

(b) Axis reversal takes place (left-right axis and up-down axis not changed but front-back is)

(5) How does the angle of the glass affect the path of light and in turn the illusion?

ii) Refraction: light is refracted when it crosses from one transparent material into another

(1) Light bends because the speed of light is different in different mediums

(2) Light always takes the path that takes the shortest time

(3) The shortest distance does not always equal the shortest time

(4) Idea of light displacement – displaced but parallel to incident light

(5) How does light find the path that takes the shortest tie to travel?

(a) In other words, what is the cause of refraction?

(b) Wave fronts?

(6) Dispersion?

c) Crucial to understand how the reflection through the glass works to create an image on the other side and how our eyes perceive light and color (what percent of the light goes through the glass, how much is reflected, why is some of it reflected while some of it is transmitted through, and the interaction of the light and the actual object)

d) Show the other side of the ghost demo where actual object is

i) Explain how perception is altered by memory and our mind can be tricked by illusions, and distort realityàPlato’s cave metaphor

6) How Pepper’s Ghosts are used today

a) HUD’s

b) German reading glasses

c) The future…?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/peppers-ghost/250.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head-up_display

2)  Matt and I have both been to Disneyland and there is a ride called the Haunted Mansion.  In this ride, Disney uses the Pepper’s Ghost illusion to project ghosts into a grand ballroom using audio-animatronics, light, and plate glass.  While the physics behind this illusion are relatively simple, the illusion is being used in technological advancements such as “heads-up” displays (HUDs) in the military aircraft windshields and even reading glasses, now available to the mass public.

3)  The goal(s) of our project (what do you want to learn?): (10 pts)  The goal(s) of our project is to understand the absorption, reflection and transmission of light, the progression of the Pepper’s Ghost illusion in Victorian Theatre to HUDs, the difference between the interaction of light with plate glass and the interaction of light with mirrors, the human perception of images, light, colors, etc… and the application and further refinement of the Pepper’s Ghost illusion in technology.

4)  Our finished product, due on May 15, will be (a Powerpoint presentation? video? experiment report? web site?): (10 pts)  an in-class demo of the Pepper’s Ghost illusion as well as a powerpoint describing the physics behind the illusion and how such an old effect is being used in modern day technology.

5)  Here are two PROPERLY REFERENCED published journal articles/web sites that I will use as resources for my project. (10 pts)

I chose this topic because I feel there is a strong link between evolution and human nature today, for example our ethical choices may be related to our inner most desire to survive, or how capitalism is based in our self interest, and these two things greatly influence the state of affairs and human rights today.  Most of what we learn in school about evolution is related to natural selection and the effect of our inherited traits and the environment on our species today, but after taking physics I am interested in exploring different theories about how the study and laws of physics effected the development of life as we know it today.

My goal for this project is to explore and learn how the laws of physics and the universe have affected life on earth today.

My final project on May 15^th will be a PowerPoint presentation explaining the current theories about the relation between physics and evolution.

References:

1. Heylighen, F., C. Joslyn, and V. Turchin. “The Physics of Evolution.” Welcome to Principia Cybernetica

Web. Principia Cybernetica Web, 06 Aug. 1999. Web. 18 Apr. 2010.

<http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/PHYSEVOL.html>.

2. Siegfried, T.. ”Charles Darwin was born into a world that today’s scientists wouldn’t

recognize. ” Science News 31 Jan. 2009: Research Library, ProQuest. Web.  18 Apr. 2010.