[Example: Spherical Aberration]

Suggestions: Modify this page for a convex mirror. Turn off the drag so that students cannot change the mirror properties.

You can click-drag both the source and the mirror.  You can also clink-drag on the focal length and the source angle if you make the lens or the source the active element first by clicking on these objects.

The small angle approximation used in the mirror equation does not produce spherical aberration.  Try it.

Embedding

Optics may be embedded within your web page with the following HTML tags:

<applet 
	code="optics.OpticsApplet.class" 
	codebase="../classes" 
	width="500" height="250"
	archive="optics.jar"
	name="OpticsBenchApplet"
	id="OpticsBenchApplet">
<param name="ShowControls" value="false">
</applet>

Script for Lens with Spherical Aberration.

<script language="JavaScript">

function mirror() {
         document.OpticsBenchApplet.setDefault();
         document.OpticsBenchApplet.setSize(0.9);
         document.OpticsBenchApplet.setDrag(true);
         document.OpticsBenchApplet.setPropertyDrag(true);
         document.OpticsBenchApplet.setInfo(true);
         document.OpticsBenchApplet.addSphericalMirror(4.2,0.8);
         document.OpticsBenchApplet.addSource(1.4,-0.35,.05,-0.20);
}
</script>

You may wish to try this Physlet in interactive mode to see what the Optics can do.

INTERACTIVE APPLET