Sunday, September 11, 2011
Home Flashlight Experiment
I went outside last night armed with a flashlight very similar to the one we used in class, and with my husbands "Stanley" 1M Series Spotlight that he uses when he is night fishing. It was dark out but I do live in a subdivision so it was not total darkness like I had imagined in my dark room. What happened was not what I expected. I saw no "beam" with either flashlight. (At least what I had envisioned as a beam.) What I saw was very similar to what I experienced in the class experiment. In class when I looked into the box, on the opposite wall, I saw a circular reflection on the opposite wall. (reminded me of a bulls-eye, like in a dart game) Outside I saw that same reflection off of the darkness. There was no beam going straight out from either source, but wide light. At the end of the light was that "bulls-eye" reflection. I was very surprised to not see the "beam" with the big flashlight/spotlight. I am beginning to think I have this all wrong in my thinking. I think my original thoughts have been from thinking about headlights not flashlights. I am not sure, but I am sure I have seen this "beam" idea in action. I am still thinking about this and may post more later. (Maybe I need to have someone else hold the light.)
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Hey Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI was surprised to not see a beam also when I did my experiment. However, I still maintain that there is a section of light that we can see because like you I have seen this. I think maybe we can see a beam if there is adequate space, and we are further away from the light source when viewing it from the side.
I saw the same bulls-eye at the end of my lights. I was thinking it was from the shape of the bulb and mirrors.
ReplyDeleteI tried adding dust and smoke in the direction of the light and I did see a beam. Without those, there was no beam.
I was also surprised to see a "bullseye" effect with the light. I thought it was simply because I was using a very big flashlight, but now I do not think this since we all seemed to use different types of flashlights. I think we all saw a bullseye because of the light reflecting off of something.
ReplyDeleteI also saw a circular pattern of light shining on the wall that sort of resembled a bulls-eye. I thought I would see a beam/pathway of light too! I used a small 4 bulb flashlight and I did not see a beam. I only saw a few dust particles floating near the light.
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