Saturday, January 9, 2021

Genuary 2021 Day 9: "Interference Patterns"

 

One of the first two places my brain went when I was considering "Interference Patterns" was the double slit photon experiment, and the simpler version of that that we did in high school physics (shout out to Mr. Pearson, my physics teacher, and Troy and Becky, my lab partners).  The simpler version was done in a shallow basin of water, with two periodic ripple generators. It's pretty much what's explained here: https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/light/Lesson-1/Two-Point-Source-Interference

The other thought I had was some sort of Moiré pattern: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moir%C3%A9_pattern

So, I made two drawable objects, one which made an expanding ripple pattern, and one which made a rotating starburst of rays. I made two of each, and put all of the drawables on their own lissajous curves (which feels sort of interference-y in a different way; complex motion from two sine waves not in sync).

I drew a bunch of frames of this, which I made an animated GIF of, and the above YouTube video, and I also drew one frame out on my AxiDraw. I don't know how easily consumed each is - I like to think that the best version of this is the animated GIF, but the others are probably more accessible.











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