Genetic Algorithms vs CloudLabs Converging Lens

Genetic algorithms are one of the search and optimisation methods. The aim of optimisation is to increase efficiency in reaching a certain optimal value. Genetic algorithms are based on the mechanisms of natural selection and heredity. The basic genetic algorithm is built from three operations: reproduction, crossing, and mutation. Genetic algorithms operate on populations of coding sequences and use random selection rules to search for the global optimal value. However, these random rules are defined to give the appropriate direction of the search (through various selection mechanisms or scaling of fitness functions). This basic procedure is enhanced by certain genetic manipulations, such as those seen in nature. They include the mechanisms of dominance, diploidy, inversion, and other reconfiguration mechanisms that occur at the chromosome level. Users can design textual or graphical scaling patterns for the fitness function and then use them in simulations. The application also provides a preliminary analysis of statistical data concerning the distribution of the fitness function in the population. The program allows the user to compare non-random procedures (e.g. scaling of fitness functions) by using the same pseudorandom sequence (for procedures requiring randomization, such as selection, etc.) in successive simulations. In order to better visualize the genetic processes taking place during the simulation, some of them are presented to the user using animations. Additionally, some of the data obtained from simulations can be saved and shared.

This simulator recreates an optical table with a converging lens and two test objects. The goals of this lab are to experimentally find the focal length, radius of curvature, and power of the lens, as well as find the magnification of the image and determine whether or not it is inverted. During the laboratory development you will be able to observe the changes in the size of the formed image, as the distance between the object and the lens is varied.