Optics B/C

[Schrodingerscat]

So how many mirrors are people using? We're going to try to use 5.

I debated this heavily prior to state. My eventual conclusion from our experience practicing was that a simply and stable four mirror configuration was worth sacrificing the last mirror when he had to shoot the laser all the way across the box (eg barrier very near both target and laser) but we used our full 5 mirror design (a simple two right angles at one end and an N shaped reflection at the other end) in a situation when we could position all our mirrors near each other. Otherwise we had frequent significant misses.

[SciBomb97]

I guess it depends on the quality of the box and the mirrors they give you. Some configurations allow for easy targeting even with five mirrors, but other times it's hard to even get 1 mirror aligned on the template.

[JSGandora]

For the tournaments you guys have been to, did significant figures affect whether or not your answer was correct? Do you think this will be true for Nationals?

[Infinity Flat]

For the tournaments you guys have been to, did significant figures affect whether or not your answer was correct? Do you think this will be true for Nationals?

No to both of those, if Chalker is grading, that is. He's usually pretty lenient on things such as that.

[DivineBbbbbeast]

chalker wont be running optics though, since he will be in the grading room, so it depends on what the event supervisor says.

[andrewwski]

The supervisor may not necessarily grade the tests though...

[FawnOnyx]

Should we study the Fresnel Equations that deal with reflectance and transmittance? They're sort of tied to refraction.

[hftf]

I have been meaning to share this for quite a long time, but I have unfortunately kept postponing posting for various reasons. Since Nationals is imminent, and as far as I am aware, Optics does not appear to be returning as an event next year, it would serve very little purpose for me to wait any longer. So without further delay, here is the new addition to the Optics resources that I released last year.

Virtual laser* shoot
* Lately-announced Awesome Self-Explanatory Resource

It has only been tested heavily in Google Chrome, and I do not expect it to work in anything but the most modern browsers. Many thanks to everyone who helped out during its development, and especially to foreverphysics for the initial motivation.

Go try it out and let me know what you think! I give extra credit for cool screenshots.

[foreverphysics]

You finally posted it! Yay!
I recommend you guys use this. I've been using this thing for a while (since it was in beta) and it's...great. Really, really great.

[lakersfan2012]

How many teams ended up using 5 mirrors at the laser shoot?