I was a little slow off the ground for this post. This is the last day for submitting to the Weekly Photo Challenge: Refraction. I was going through photos today to get a few printed for some frames that desperately need photos and I came across this one that struck me as fitting this week’s theme. My focus is light refraction.
New York City Lights
Copyright 2014, Teresa Coppens
“Refraction occurs, as in a lens, when a wave passes from one medium into the second, deviating from the straight path it otherwise would have taken. The amount of deviation or “bending” depends on the indexes of refraction of each medium, determined by the relative speed of the wave in the two media.” — Dictionary.com
In other words, when light enters a denser, transparent material it slows down and refraction or bending of light occurs. Thinks of a pencil in a glass of water. When you look at the pencil above the water line and compare it to the pencil below the water line, the pencil itself appears fractured. It is a cool phenomenon. Rainbows are an example of water droplets behaving like a prism. The higher density of the water droplets causes the light to separate into its different wavelengths. Each wavelength is a different color seen as the rainbow!
[cow_johnson general_float=”right” general_clear=”none” general_width=”350″ general_bgcolor=”#ff964a”]”Man, Sub-creator, the refracted light
through whom is splintered from a single White
to many hues, and endlessly combined
in living shapes that move from mind to mind.”— J.J.R. Tolkien[/cow_johnson]
This photo was taken with my Canon Rebel digital camera in late August of this year during an evening bus tour. It was a very muggy evening. Day time temperatures were very high and that evening was very warm. With abundant water in the air, the refraction of light through tiny water droplets caused an interesting halo effect around a street light in Little Italy, New York City.
Sources:
refraction. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc.https//dictionary.reference.com/browse/refraction (accessed: October 23, 2014).
<a href=”https//dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/refraction/”>Refraction</a>
I’m Teresa Coppens, science geek, book nerd, educator, coffee lovin’ mom with a coconut aversion. My entire family is crazy about science including my cats! I am passionate about the weird and unusual. Here in my cabinet of science curiosities get your science geek on. Grab a cup of your favorite brew, get comfortable at Science Alcove and learn to love your inner science geek!
Never too late for WPC. I like the glow on the traffic sign.
Thanks seeker. I will not worry next time. I guess sometimes its best to strike when the iron is hot! It was the glow of the traffic light that inspired the picture on our tour. I’m surprised it turned out so well considering we were on the move.
What a mix of poetry, prose and visual. Fantastic Tolkien quote, and fine, fine photo. Just visited Washington, D.C. where we saw a Richard Estes exhibit at the national museum of American art. He paints from photographs, and many of his paintings have reflected & refracted light as a theme, similar to your photo. The definition you offer is poetic and evocative as well: “deviating from the straight path it otherwise would have taken.” How many of us have refracted as our waves pass from one medium to a second?
J.B. your comment is so very flattering. Thank you so much. I’m glad you enjoyed the photo and prose. I am new to the photography part of blogging but I’m enjoying my foray into combining my own pictures with my love for science. I will have to ponder your end question! It is a very good one and beckons much more thought.