Model of Fresnel Refraction by Richard P. Baker, Baker #378
date: label: date made
content: ca 1906-1935
name: label: maker
content: Baker, Richard P.
notes: label: Description
content: Richard P. Baker, a mathematician at the University of Iowa, made a series of models relating to the relative intensity of polarized light transmitted by an isotropic medium. In all of them, the ratio of the magnitude of two electromagnetic vectors is plotted extending vertically, as a function of the index of refraction of the medium and the angle of incidence of the light. In Baker’s scheme, the vectors D<sub>s</sub>, E<sub>s</sub>, and R<sub>s</sub> lie in the surface between the two media, while the vectors D<sub>p</sub>, E<sub>p</sub>, and R<sub>p</sub> lie in the plane of polarization. The E vectors represent the electric force, the R vectors the reflected wave, and the D vectors the refracted wave. This particular model plots values of the ratio of intensities D<sub>p</sub> / E<sub>p</sub>, a function equal to 2 cos θ sin φ / sin (θ + φ). Here θ is the angle of incidence of the light and φ is the angle of refraction.
label: Description
content: The model has a wooden base and sides, with a plaster top. A typed paper tag attached to the base reads: No. 378 (/) 10 Freshnel [sic] surfaces. A paper label on the bottom, marked in ink, reads: No.378 (/) Refraction (/) Electric Vector (/) D<sub>p</sub> / E<sub>p</sub>.
label: Description
content: Baker associated this model with “Drude’s Electric Vector.”
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Accession File.
label: Description
content: R. P. Baker, <I>Mathematical Models</I>, Iowa City, Iowa, 1931, p. 18.
label: Description
content: Paul Drude, with C. Riborg Mann and Robert A. Millikan, translators, <I>Theory of Optics</I>, New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1902, esp. pp. 279-280.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Frances E. Baker
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.211257.059
label: accession number
content: 211257
label: catalog number
content: 211257.059
objectType: label: Object Name
content: geometric model
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plaster (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: white (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: black (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: plaster cast,bolted to base. (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: average spatial: 7.2 cm x 15 cm x 15 cm; 2 27/32 in x 5 29/32 in x 5 29/32 in