Transcript Photography of Physics

Photographing
Physics
By David Navadeh and Karley Whelan
Firing a Gun
Newton’s Third Law states that to every action there must
be an equal and opposite reaction. That means something
cannot be done to an object without affecting the first thing.
As complicated as that sounds, it is exhibited perfectly in
this photograph. As the man fires the gun, the bullet is
launched forward, an action. The kickback, or strong
backwards motion of the gun against the man, represents
the opposite reaction (the effect of pushing the bullet
forward is that energy is directed backwards as well).
Blowing Out a Candle
Before this picture was captured, there was a bright, vibrant flame
burning continually as it uses oxygen to sustain itself. As is shown in
this image, the candle has been recently extinguished by a puff of air.
This is a phenomenon that many have experienced but not fully
understood. The familiar curl of smoke that arises from the
extinguished candle can be explained with simple physics. Due to the
incomplete combustion contained in the candle wick and flame results
in smoke: excess Carbon atoms that have not bound to Oxygen.
These particles are, of course, extremely light and can thus be moved
very easily as they float upwards, often in the spiral motion shown in
this image.
Through the Lens
The process of human sight begins with light. To see an image, like the
numbers on this license plate, light must bounce off the image and travel to the
eye. The light then travels through the lens of the eye to the retina and on
through the optic nerve to the brain for processing. So what turns these
numbers upside down or makes them smaller or bigger? The bending of the
light. As the light bounces off the object, here it passes through a lens held up
in front of the viewer's eye. The lens bends the waves of light coming from the
object causing the light to hit a different place on the eyeball which signifies a
different image to the brain. Therefore, with a convex lens the image will
appear larger (and thus closer) as the light is bent inward and the waves
converge. A concave lens will cause the image to appear upside down and
smaller (depending on the location of the lens) as it scatters the light waves.
Water on a Cent
Forces are all around us. They act on everyone and
everything everywhere on earth. Most people are aware of
the more common forces like gravity and applied force by
name, but have only experienced the main force exhibited
here. As the water droplets curve around the edges of the
penny, surface tension forces act to keep the water
droplets together, seemingly defying gravity. The cohesive
intramolecular forces between the molecules are stronger
than gravity and other forces (up to a certain amount of
water molecules) and results in the image here.
Water Droplets Creating Waves
Water’s fluidity lends itself perfectly to the creation of
regular waves. Waves can constructively and destructively
interfere, either building each other up or cancelling each
other out. When formed by a droplet of water, such as in
this photograph, the waves radiate around from the original
point of contact, where the droplet entered the water. The
many waves created by this disruption interfere with each
other to form the circular waves seen in this image.