Okay…I’ve checked out every single tutorial I could find on normals, and not a single one managed to convey what, exactly they were doing with them. I can calculate them, that’s no biggie, but how do I apply them? And anyone who answers something like ‘Use them for lighting and collision’, I will hunt down and murder with a sharpened telephone pole. What I want is a clear cut example…And I CAN’T find any…
a normal defines the orientation of a surface. They can be provided to OpenGL using the glNormal commands. They are part of the phong lighing model explained here: http://www.delphi3d.net/articles/viewarticle.php?article=phong.htm
You use them in collision detection because they are useful for defining surfaces and determining collision response. Does this make sense?
If i said I alredy knew what it was, what it was for, would you be surprised? 
When I say ‘apply’ I meant the down and dirty version of the word. I meant practical application…No one uses practical examples anymore. x.x It’s all either abstract examples or practical application without explanation.
first, look at the link, this gives a very detailed explanation of the phong lighting model and what normals are used for, it doesn’t get much better.