UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-WHITEWATER
CURRICULUM PROPOSAL FORM #3

NEW COURSE



Effective: Fall 2001

Course Number: * 800-120
 

Course Title: Light and Color

15 Character Abbreviation: Light and Color
25 Character Abbreviation: Light and Color
 
Sponsor: Hugo C. Tscharnack   E-mail Address: tscharnh@mail.uww.edu
Department: Physics   College: Letters and Sciences
Co-sponsor:    E-mail Address:
Department:    College:

Other Programs Affected: None

Check if course is to meet any of the following requirements:

__ None __ Writing __ Computer __ Diversity _X_ General Ed: Area Lab Science

Credit/Contact Hours: (per semester)
 
Total lab hours: ____32____ Total lecture hours: ___48____
Number of credits: ____4____   Total contact hours: ___80____

Check if course is repeatable: _X_ No ___ Yes If "Yes", answer the following questions:
 
No of times in major ________ No of credits in major ________
No of times in degree ________ No of credits in degree ________

Enter the appropriate titles if the course is required in any of the following:

Major Title(s):
Minor Title(s):
Emphasis Title(s):

Course justification:
With the growing emphasis on the visual arts on our campus and in our society there appears to be a need for a course dealing with the phenomena of light and color to which we are continually exposed.

Relationship to program assessment objectives:
Meets the following Department of Physics assessment objectives:

    1. Provide education in physics to the non-science major.
    2. Provide the non-science major with an exposure to the scientific method in a laboratory setting.
Budgetary impact:
This course will be taught with the current Department of Physics staff as part of our general studies offerings rotation.  The cost of additional laboratory equipment could be as much as $3,000 or as little as nothing depending on the degree of modernization desired.

Course description:
An introduction to light science for students in the visual arts and for students with an interest in art. The course includes the properties of light and color, the interaction of light with matter, the formation of visual images, and color vision. Three one-hour lectures and one two-hour laboratory per week.

Course requisites:
Co-requisite Mathematics 760-140 or 760-141

Course objectives and tentative course syllabus:
Objectives:

    1. To gain an understanding of the physical nature of light.
    2. To gain an understanding of the various phenomena involving light.
    3. To foster the close relationship between light and art.
    4. To gain laboratory experience in a physical science.
Textbook: Light Science Physics and the Visual Arts by Rossing and Chiaverina

Course Outline:

WEEK ONE
  Color
In Nature: The Sky, Rainbows, Sunsets, Clouds, and Plants
Man Made: Mixing by Addition and by Subtraction and Pigments in Art
  Laboratory: Rainbows and Mixing Colors

WEEK TWO
  The Wave Nature of Light

 Electromagnetic Waves
 Properties of Waves
   Laboratory: Standing Waves

WEEK THREE
  The Particle Nature of Light
  Reflection

Plane Mirrors
Spherical Mirrors
  Laboratory: Image Formation with Mirrors

WEEK FOUR
  The Particle Nature of Light
  Refraction

    Converging Lenses
    Diverging Lens
  Photons
  Laboratory: Image Formation with Lenses

WEEK FIVE
  Optical Instruments

   Telescopes, Microscopes, Cameras, and the Human Eye
  Laboratory: Optical Instruments

WEEK SIX
  What only a wave can do: Interference and Diffraction

   Single Slit, Double Slit, and Interferometers
  Laboratory: The diameter of a hair

WEEK SEVEN
  Thin Films

   Theory and Applications
  Laboratory: Colors in Thin Films

WEEK EIGHT

  Light Sources
   Solids
   Gaseous Molecules
   Gaseous Atoms
  Laboratory: The Spectrum of Light Sources

WEEK NINE
  Polarized Light

Kinds, Sources and Applications
  Laboratory: Exploration of Polarized Light

WEEK TEN
  Color Vision

   Photoreceptors, Perception, Systems and Theories
  Laboratory: Color Perception

WEEK ELEVEN
  Color in Art

   Dyes, Pigments, Glasses, Glazes, and Paints
  Laboratory: Mixing Pigments

WEEK TWEVLE
  Photography

   Evolution, Instruments, Films, and Processes
  Laboratory: The Pinhole Camera and Single Use Camera

WEEK THIRTEEN
  Holography

Reflection and Transmission Holograms
  Holographic Interferometry
  Laboratory: Making a Reflection Hologram

WEEK FOURTEEN
  Symmetry in Art and Nature

   Kinds of Symmetry and Applications
  Laboratory: Symmetry Exploration in Sponge Painting


Bibliography:

Falk, D.S., Brill, D.R. and Dtork, D.S,. Seeing The Light*, (John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY, 1986)

Greenler, Robert, Rainbows, Halos, and Glories*, (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1980)

Hariharen, P. Optical Holography, (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1996)

Hecht, E. Optics*, (Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1998)

Hewett, P.G., Conceptual Physics*,(Harper Collins, New York, NY, 1993)

Kirkpatrick, L.D. and Wheeler, G.F., Physics: A World View*, (Saunders Publishing, Philadelphia, PA, 2000)

Loeb, A. Color and Symmetry*, (Wiley-Interscience, New York, NY, 1971)

Overheim, R.D., and Wagner, D.L., Light and Color, (John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY, 1982)

Williamson, Samuel and Cummins, Herman, Light and Color, (John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY, 1983)

 * Available in Andersen Library