Constructive Interference

 

I took a walk today at work (I work at a public school district bus depot) and found some great examples of constructive interference. What is constructive interference you might ask? Well, it's responsible for all the colors you are seeing in the water from the pictures above. The water has oil in it which causes it to be iridescent. The oil in the water creates a thin film that is reflecting light not only once, but twice! Once on the top layer of the oil and once on the bottom layer of the oil.

When the two waves are in alignment, the amplitude increases creating constructive interference. As different wavelengths of light hit the oil, they cause varying levels of constructive interference which produces all the colors that we see. So next time you see this occur you can shout to world, "Aha! The beauty of constructive interference!"

Source: Philip Dennison's 2013 Environmental Optics Course Reader

Orbital ATK Antares Launch Explosion

NASA just released hi-def images of the Antares rocket explosion from last year in all its gritty glory. They posted them on Flickr so check it out!

Satellite Imagery

A sense of perspective is unavoidable from 22,000 miles out. Looking down at Earth from that distance — almost three times farther than the diameter of the planet itself — allows a view of the globe as a massive organic system, pulsing with continuous movement. Below, images from the Himawari-8 weather satellite's first official day paint a living portrait of the western Pacific, with Typhoons Chan-hom and Nangka spinning slowly westward. 

Source: New York Times