What breaks the shadow of the tube?

Year: 1998

Authors: Ferraro P.

Autors Affiliation: 1 ITIS “A.Righi” VIII, Viale J.F. Kennedy 112, 80125 Napoli, Italy
2 Istituto di Cibernetica del CNR, Via Toiano, 6 Arco Felice, Napoli, Italy 80072

Abstract: When an object is partially immersed and inclined in the water, the shadow of the object seen on the bottom of the container appears to be broken in two distinct parts or blown up in correspondence of the immersion line. The effect is very simple to show and observations and discussions could be developed in the classroom about surface tensions, wettability, and optics.

Journal/Review: JOURNAL OF THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA B-OPTICAL PHYSICS

Volume: 36 (9)      Pages from: 542  to: 543

KeyWords: wetting; light transmission; surface tension; optics; refraction
DOI: 10.1119/1.880129