Your 'cylindrical lens' report has been received. Scroll down through the document to see any comments I might have inserted, and my final comment at the end.
Your optional message or comment:
Distance from the back of the cylinder at which the band becomes thinnest, and diameter or circumference of the cylinder.
36.0 cm
10.5 cm diameter
Distances at which the band focused most clearly and distances at which the focus lessened slightly, in order from closest to furthest; widths of the bands at these distances; distance of source from 'front' of cylinder; description of the bands.
6.5, 7.1, 8.3 cm
0.5, 0.4, 0.1 cm
40.2 cm
Width of the band; does the width of the band change linearly with position?
4 cm
The band does not change linearly. Because in the distances abouve the width of the band changed at a nonlinear rate.
Past the point of narrowest focus, what happens to the width of the beam? How would you describe the region of space occupied by the beam?
The width of the bright region becomes much larger as the band moves past the narrowest point.
The region goes out of focus and that is why the band widens.
Index of refraction of water according to your measurements; details of your analysis and your analysis of uncertainties:
1.40
I know that this is off but is because I was slightly confused by the instructions.
Index of refraction of second liquid.
1.501
Index of refraction of a stack of CDs.
1.38
How could you use the information in the first part of the experiment, where you measured the triangle, to determine the index of refraction of the light?
Triangular shape is due to the light rays coming into focus.
Index of refraction using halfway-screened cylinder, comparison between halfway-screened and unscreened cylinder.
How long did it take you to complete this experiment?
1 hour
Optional additional comments and/or questions:
Your results are good and agree within reasonable limits with the accepted values of the index of refraction for the various materials. Good work.