Re: [Phys-l] Newton and Snell (was Global evolution as fact)

[chuck britton <cvbritton@mac.com>]

It's time to start teaching N2 the way Newton wrote it.

F = dp/dt

Cover constant p motion first (including collisions) and then 
introduce F as the dp/dt thing.


At 1:04 PM -0500 1/11/11, Kyle Forinash wrote:
> Hi Paul;
>
> Newton's laws also don't work for fast moving objects (relativity) 
> nor apply to subatomic particles.
>
> In dispersive media (most materials) different wavelengths travel at 
> slightly different speeds so the refractive indexes in Snell's law 
> ought to be slightly different for each wavelength. But usually we 
> treat it as a constant for all wavelengths. This doesn't matter if 
> the light enters and exits from a media with parallel sides but 
> splits white light into color if the sides are not parallel.
>
> kyle