willthatsall said:
Is there a trick to this, or is it just memorizing the stuff? I didn't pay attention to it in physics and now I can't figure out what the three ray diagrams mean or anything else. All I really understand is 1/o + 1/i = 1/f. Who can help me?
a) you'll likely not see optics on the mcats
b) optics on the mcats, if it makes an appearance, is ... easy
c) don't bother figuring it out, just memorize the formulas and conditions when they apply; and practice, of course
d) or get some prisms, lenses and mirrors. play with them. visualize. make predictions, examine consequences of position, movement. if you fail at d), go back to c). and stay there.
if you don't know how to proceed with d), see your high-school physics teacher, the guy in charge of physics lab at your university or a grad student in a chemistry department who works with lasers (e.g. electrochem, physical chem, photoinorganic chem, etc.)
oh, and they're all gonna laugh at you.
p.s. it's all a matter of geometry. just try to visualize how the lens structure bends the light, like a .... gravitational field bending space time
🙂
p.p.s. c) is more pragmatic
