Sunday, May 18, 2008

larger than life



We're learning about how things are magnified, so I put up these pictures of this bottle up. They're both taken from the same distance, so the characters on the bottle definitely get larger because of the glass. Because the characters get larger, the glass can't be acting as a diverging lens, because those only create smaller images. And as a concave lens, the letters must be within one focal length of the glass because that is the only time the image gets bigger and stays upright. However, because it is within one focal length, the image is only virtual (it can't be produced onto a screen). Light doesn't go through the lens and merge at one spot, but the eyes work it out so that the image can still be seen. Appearances are definitely deceiving.


Sunday, May 4, 2008

difference between Painting and Physics

In painting, red, blue, and yellow are supposed to be the primary colors that are mixed to make other colors, but this is not true in physics. In physics, cyan, yellow, and magenta are what make up all the different colors. By substitution, these colors not only produce the painting primary colors, but others as well. It's a hard concept to accept, but after some thought, I realized it is true. Although the painting primary colors are taught to kids and people in art classes, it is highly unlikely that they will only use red, blue, and yellow paint for their artwork. Instead there are colors such as pthalo blue or payne's grey, colors that would be very difficult (if not impossible) to make with only the painting primary colors. Even printers only have cyan, magenta, and yellow ink, but can produce all sorts of colors, so the painting primary colors must be fake. However, it's hard to think about how we use the cones in our eyes to help us see colors when mixing, which is probably why the painting primary colors are the more popular of the two.