Physics in the arts

Introduction: Light and sound Light and light waves: Speed of light ; Electromagnetic spectrum ; Polarization Reflection and refraction: Specular reflection of light ; Refraction of light ; Total internal reflection ; Reflection and refraction in diamonds ; The rainbow ; Questions Lenses: The prism ; Converging and diverging lenses ; Focal length ; Images, real and virtual ; Three easy rays ; The lens formula ; Lens aberrations ; Questions The eye: Accommodation ; Eyeglasses ; Nearsighted eye ; Farsighted eye ; Astigmatic eye Photography: The camera ; Focusing the camera ; Choosing the exposure time ; Choosing the aperture ; Depth of field ; The film ; Digital photography ; Putting it all together : taking a photograph ; Questions Color and color vision: Color ; Color sensitivity of the eye ; Physical and psychological color ; Color : hue, saturation, and brightness ; Light interaction with other objects ; Scattering or diffuse reflection ; Questions Additive color mixing: Primary colors ; Adding primary colors ; The color triangle ; Low-intensity colors ; Spectral colors ; Non-spectral colors ; Summary ; Additive color mixing in painting ; Questions Subtractive color mixing: Filters ; Subtractive primary colors ; 8.3. Color photography ; Pigments ; Change in saturation ; Why do blue and yellow make green? ; Change in hue ; Questions

Color-generating mechanisms: Illuminating light ; Pigments -; Structural color : iridescence ; More color-generating mechanisms due to iridescence ; Color in gemstones ; Mineral color due to charge transfer ; Mineral color due to color centers ; Color in gems due to band gap absorption of light Periodic oscillations: Displacement graph : position x changes with time t ; The period T and the frequency f ; Large and small numbers ; Speed of motion ; Questions Simple harmonic motion: The spring constant ; Oscillation frequency for simple harmonic motion (SHM) ; Wave shape of simple harmonic motion ; Phase angle ; Questions Damped oscillations and resonance: Damped oscillations : the concept of "damping time" ; Resonance ; Build-up decay of musical tones ; Applications in music ; Questions Adding sound sources : beats and harmony: Principle of superposition ; Three special cases ; Beats ; Harmony ; For the fun of it : Lissajous figures ; Questions Sound waves: Propagation of a pulse ; Longitudinal and transverse waves ; Sound waves in air are longitudinal waves ; Speed of sound in air ; Wavelength and frequency ; Sound propagation ; Interference of sound waves ; Concert hall acoustics ; Questions

Sound perception : pitch, loudness, and timbre: Loudness and amplitude ; Loudness and frequency ; Pitch discrimination

The ear: The parts of the ear ; Place theory of pitch perception ; What do the auditory nerves tell the brain?

Vibration of strings: Single modes ; Higher modes ; Traveling versus standing waves ; The voicing formula ; How do modes relate to music? ; Damping of higher partials ; Plucked strings : missing partials ; Playing harmonics ; Real strings have some stiffness ; Questions

Pipes: Pressure pulse in a pipe ; Reflections in open and closed pipes ; Standing waves in open pipes ; Fundamental frequency of open pipe ; Higher modes of open pipe ; Fundamental mode of closed pipe ; Higher modes of closed pipe ; Playing tunes on wind instruments : fingerholes and overblowing ; Other shapes ; Acoustic length ; Questions

Fourier analysis: The Fourier theorem ; Sound spectrum ; Fourier analyzer (sound analyzer) ; Fourier synthesis ; Why can't we synthesize a Stradivari? ; Questions

Musical scales: Musical intervals ; Consonance (harmony) : simple number ratios ; The major triad ; Constructing a scale : the just scale ; Whole and half tone intervals ; Names of intervals ; Transposing : why black keys? ; Perfection sacrificed : the tempered scale ; Major and minor scales ; The natural scale ; Questions

Musical instruments: Structure of musical instruments ; Excitation mechanism ; Playing a tune ; Questions

Solutions to problems.