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WFU Physics Lecture Demonstrations

Calcite Crystals

PIRA 6H35.10

Image:

Description:

Birefringent materials, including calcite crystals, have the ability to refract an unpolarized incident ray into two separate polarized rays. The refracted rays are referred to as the "ordinary," or "O" ray, which obeys Snell's Law, and the "extraordinary," or "E" ray, which does not. The crystal is set on the overhead over a small hole made in a note card. A polaroid sheet can be used to check the polarization of the exiting rays.

Recipe and
Location:

Calcite Crystals
Polaroid Sheet
Card w/Hole

Video:

Streaming Video:

None

MPG Video:

None

 

Real Video:

None

Notes:

none at this time

 

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100 Olin Physical Laboratory
Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem, NC 27109-7507
Phone: (336) 758-5337, FAX: (336) 758-6142
E-mail:
wfuphys@wfu.edu