PASCO OS-8459 Beginning Optics System - Manual (Page 4)

®
B e g i n n i n g O p t i c s S y s t e m A b o u t t h e E q u i p m e n t
4
About the Equipment
For detailed information on the Light Source and Ray Optics Kit, see the instruction sheets
included with those components.
Optics Bench Basic Optics components, such as mounted lenses and the adjust-
able lens holder, snap into the wide central channel of the optics bench. Place the base
of the component on the bench and push down firmly to snap it in place. To move it,
squeeze the tab on base and slide it along the bench.
Components that include a square bolt and a thumb screw are designed to be fasted to
the T-slots on the sides and center of the bench. Slide the bolt into the T-slot, insert the
thumb screw through the component’s mounting hold, thread the screw into the bolt
and tighten it down.
Use the metric scale on the bench to measure the positions of components.
Light Source The included light source can be used on a tabletop or mounted on
the bench. It functions as a bright point source, an illuminated crossed-arrow object, a
primary-color source, and a ray box with up to five parallel rays.
Mounted Lenses The Beginning Optics System includes two lenses mounted in
holders. Use them on the optics bench with the light source, viewing screen, and other
Basic Optics components.
Viewing Screen Mount the screen on the bench to view real images formed by
lenses.
Ray Optics Kit The ray optics kit is a set of optics components designed for use
with the light source in ray-box mode. To make the rays easy to see and trace, use the
ray optics components on a white sheet of paper on a flat table top. The transparent
storage box doubles as a water tank for studying lenses under water.
About the Experiments
The experiment instructions on the following pages are arranged and categorized
according to which components of the Beginning Optics System they use. See the
table at the top of each experiment for a detailed list of required equipment. Teachers’
notes, including typical data and answers to questions, can be found starting on
page 43.
The experiments that call for the light source work best in a dimly lit room.
Ray Optics Kit Experiments These experiments use the Ray Optics Kit, the
Light Source (in ray-box mode), and may require blank white paper, a ruler, protrac-
tor, and drawing compass.
1. Color Addition (page 7): Explore the results of mixing colored light and illumi-
nating colored ink with colored light.
2. Prism (page 9): Show how a prism separates white light into its component col-
ors and show that different colors are refracted at different angles through a
prism.
3. Reflection (page 11): Show how rays are reflected from plane, concave, and con-
vex mirrors.
metric scale for
measuring component
positions
T-slots