Jayani M.

Viloria
IV-Campos

In two months of attending Physics class, I learned different formulas and terms. Honestly its not easy to deal with the
subject. It is a hard subject; I cant deny that I tried to understand those topics that I didnt fully understand by asking my classmates
and some fellow fourth year students. Our teacher is good, I will admit that sometimes, I mean, almost all the time, it is my fault that I
dont understand the topic. Sometimes, its because Im hungry (Our Physics time is before lunch break.) so that I cant focus on our
discussion. The other reason about me, not being able to focus on the discussion sometimes, is because I am sleepy. Those were the
times when we have a lot of works to do on other subjects the night before. Though Im not always giving my full attention to the
subject, I am happy to say that I can recall some topics that we have discussed.
My favorite topic is about Reflection. Still now I can recall the meaning of reflection. Reflection is the bouncing back or going
back of the wave to the medium after reaching its boundary (or interface). Before continuing to the topic Reflection and other topics
after that, which are still fresh on my mind, lets recall those first topics.
Our first topics were just review from our lessons when we are still in third year. We talked about the people who were part of
Physics, the inventors and conductors. For example, James Prescott Joule, he discovered the mechanical equivalent of heat. Another
one is Galileo Galilei, of course we all know him, he discovered telescope. Also, Sir Isaac Newton, for his theories of gravitation and
mechanics. Not just the three of them, there are many different people who have been part of Physics.
After the review topics, we discussed about waves. Waves can be defined or described as a rhythmic disturbance that
transfers energy through matter or space. There are four categories of was, as I can remember. By movement, there are two
categories, the transverse waves; which are moving waves back and forth, which consists of oscillation perpendicular to the direction of
energy transfer; while the other one is the longitudinal wave; which moves back and forth parallel in the direction of energy transfer. By
medium, theres another two categories, first is the electromagnetic waves. I remembered that theres a video presentation that Sir
Sonny showed us about the electromagnetic spectrum. I enjoyed the discussion that time, because I love the song on the video. Sad to
say, I have forgotten the tune anymore. Now, lets define electromagnetic waves, those are the waves which are capable of
transmitting energy through vacuum, with or without medium. The other category by medium is the mechanical wave which is opposite
to the electromagnetic wave, it requires medium in order to transfer energy.
The discussion about waves, for me, is fine. I enjoyed listening to our teacher even though sometimes I feel bored. We also
discussed about frequency and period.
We also had a recitation about waves. I am a little nervous, but I answered correctly, thank God. Our group were asked by
our subject teacher about the parts of a wave.
I lost my focus when we started to talk about computations. I think not just for me, but a lot of us found it confusing. Really it
is a hard subject, so we must study harder.
Then we discussed about our reflection that I have defined already, refraction, and diffraction. Refraction is whenever a wave
passes from one medium to another. It changes speed and direction or bends at the boundary (or interface). While the diffraction is
when wave strikes an object, several things can happen.
There are also formulas that our teacher had given us. I am little confused, but it is okay. It is not very hard for me to
understand, like the first set of formulas on the previous topic. Its all about getting frequencies and wavelengths.
There is a time that I and my other classmates went to a school for an orientation for entering a university. We didnt able to
attend the Physics class that day, so I slightly got lose on that topic, but I ask my classmates about it. It is about light. We took the quiz
and I got a low score, I promise to be good next quarter, I will do all my best. I felt sad, but its okay.
After those chill discussions, there we go with computations again. I am not really a math person. I love hard subjects like
Physics, but sad to say it doesnt love me. I really want to understand the topics which are having computations, but when it comes to
solving problems or equations, I am often confused. But, thank God, when we tackled about critical angle and index of refraction. I
found topic easy and that time, I can answer the problems in our book on my own, even without asking questions to my classmates.
On that topic, the law of reflection is included just like on the topic reflection itself. Law of reflection states that angle of
incident and angle of reflection is equal. Also, incident, reflected rays, and the normal line to the surface must be all in the same plane.
I think thats the easiest formula of all the formulas that Sir Sonny had taught us. It is very simple and easy to understand. I
can answer the problems about critical angle, angle of reflection, and index of refraction. Thanks to Willebrord Snell for the Snells law
which is simple and easy to use. Snells law states that for a given pair of materials, a and b, the ratio of angle of incidence and angle
of refraction is equal to the inverse of the ratio indices refraction of the given material.
I enjoyed the discussion, because Sir also taught us the index of refraction of different materials. For example, the water,
having 1.33 as its index of refraction, crown glass index of refraction is 1.5, and airs index of refraction is 1.0 or simply 1. By the way,
the meaning (based on my lecture) of index of refraction is: dimensionless/unitless constant that can be obtained by dividing the speed
of light in a vacuum to the speed of a material.
We also tackled about plane mirror which is very interesting. Since I love looking at the mirror, I found the topic interesting. I
learned that when we look at the mirror, if we raise our right hand, on the mirror, the left will raise, its opposite. That is because of the
left-right reversal. Left-right reversal is due to switch of reference frame. The next topic is also about mirrors, but this time, it is
spherical. Both have SALT, S which stands for size, A for altitude, L for location, and T for type. I learned about the two kinds of image.
First is the virtual image. The image of us reflected in the mirror is virtual image. Virtual image is formed by extended rays. Light does
not actually reflect on the image. It cannot be projected on screen. For short, virtual image is fake. The other one is the real image.
Real image can be project on screen and light reflects on the image.
Our last topic for the first quarter is all about mirror equation. When Sir Sonny said that mirror equation will be the last topic
for the first grading, I felt very happy. I was so excited to finish the first grading. Because of that, I didnt fully understand the topic. At
least, I copied the lecture, so I will just study by myself.
Though I didnt give my full attention to the subject and I didnt fully understand some of the topics we have discussed, I
thank God that I survived the first grading. I hope that next quarter, I will be able to give my 100% attention during discussion.