Template:POTD/2007-07-20

Picture of the day
Photoelasticity
A picture of cutlery made of biodegradable plastic. The image was created using photoelasticity, an experimental method to determine stress distribution in a material. The method is based on the property of birefringence, which occurs when a ray of light passing through a transparent material experiences two refractive indices.Photo credit: Scott Bauer, ARS