*Gems* from my students

March 8, 2008 at 1:57 am (Uncategorized)

I really should have started this little collection of student quotes sooner…

From a lab on ray tracing and lenses:

Q: For a convex lens, what is the image distance when the object is very far away (i.e., at infinity)?
A: “When object is far away, the image distance is equally as close.”

Q: For a convex lens, what is the image distance when the object is very far away (i.e., at infinity)?
A: “You hold the lens from the screen the same distance as the size of the lens. ex. 20cm lens = 20cm distance”

Q: Determine the image distance and its uncertainty.
A: “Golisano building”

5 Comments

  1. Carl said,

    Awesome… totally awesome.

  2. Matt said,

    Golisano building?

  3. Joanna said,

    Oh, that was because the professor had them look out the hallway window at the building through a lens… still didn’t make it a good answer though. :-p

  4. Bob said,

    You know, I was so out of it when I took optics last year, that I do not really know what “image distances” or “convex lenses” are anymore. Oddly enough, given the way upper-level physics is, that didn’t really matter.

    Makes me think of that joke, “… when you can do vector calculus in your head, but you don’t quite remember how to do long division.”

  5. Joanna said,

    Dude, I totally embarrassed myself in front my project management professor (who used to be a navy nuclear engineer) when I turned in a test and f*cked up my adding …. yes, adding.

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