we have been discussing incident rays and rays of reflection and refraction. when a ray passes from one medium to another (i.e., from air to water), the ray is refracted, or changes its path based on its change in speed. if the ray goes from fast to slow (like from air to water), the ray bends TOWARD the normal, or the line perpendicular to the surface. if the ray goes from slow to fast, the refracted ray bends AWAY FROM the normal. so i'm going through examples in class and as i'm drawing out the refracted rays, i find myself saying "fast to slow, towards the no'." ok.. that's good. not a bad way to remember it. then comes the other situation. "slow to fast....... um... get off my normal." so that's what it's become. "slow to fast, get off my normal." for those kids that didn't seem to get it, i reminded them that i can't say "ass" 50 times a class so we have to use "normal."
i can't tell you how hard i laughed today when i handed out worksheets and kept hearing students muttering to themselves "slow to fast, get off my normal" or any of the other variations that have developed: "slow to fast, stay away from my normal," "slow to fast, move away from my normal," "slow to fast, don't smoke my grass." also, today at lunch michael told me that tenelia tried touching his normal. this mantra is taking on a life of its own and it's amazing. i can only hope these kids are muttering it years from now in some geometry class.
No comments:
Post a Comment