If a piece of glass or other transparent material takes on the appropriate shape, it is possible that parallel incident rays would either converge to a point or appear to be diverging from a point. A piece of glass that has such a shape is referred to as a lens.

 
A lens is merely a carefully ground or molded piece of transparent material that refracts light rays in such as way as to form an image. Lenses can be thought of as a series of tiny refracting prisms, each of which refracts light to produce their own image. When these prisms act together, they produce a bright image focused at a point.


Types of Lenses

There are a variety of types of lenses. Lenses differ from one another in terms of their shape and the materials from which they are made. Our focus will be upon lenses that are symmetrical across their horizontal axis - known as the principal axis. In this unit, we will categorize lenses as converging lenses and diverging lenses. A converging lens is a lens that converges rays of light that are traveling parallel to its principal axis. Converging lenses can be identified by their shape; they are relatively thick across their middle and thin at their upper and lower edges. A diverging lens is a lens that diverges rays of light that are traveling parallel to its principal axis. Diverging lenses can also be identified by their shape; they are relatively thin across their middle and thick at their upper and lower edges.
A double convex lens is symmetrical across both its horizontal and vertical axis. Each of the lens' two faces can be thought of as originally being part of a sphere. The fact that a double convex lens is thicker across its middle is an indicator that it will converge rays of light that travel parallel to its principal axis. A double convex lens is a converging lens. A double concave lens is also symmetrical across both its horizontal and vertical axis. The two faces of a double concave lens can be thought of as originally being part of a sphere. The fact that a double concave lens is thinner across its middle is an indicator that it will diverge rays of light that travel parallel to its principal axis. A double concave lens is a diverging lens. These two types of lenses - a double convex and a double concave lens will be the only types of lenses that will be discussed in this site later.

Related Posts:

  • Vector Properties of the Magnetic Field Vector Properties of the Magnetic Field Using vector calculus, we can generate some properties of any magnetic field, independent of the particular source of the field. Line Integrals of Magnetic Fields Recall that while… Read More
  • Difference Between Scalar and Vector Quantity Difference Between Scalar and Vector Quantity BASIS FOR COMPARISONSCALAR QUANTITYVECTOR QUANTITY MeaningAny physical quantity that does not include direction is known as scalar quantity.Vector quantity is one, that ha… Read More
  • Metric Conversions Metric Conversions Below are the rules for converting metric and english systems of measurement. Multiply By To Find Centimeters .0328 feet Centimeters .3937 inches Feet 30.4801 centimeters Feet/minutes .507 cent./secon… Read More
  • Kepler's Third Law Kepler's First Law Kepler's Second Law Statement of Kepler's Third Law From observations collected over many centuries, and especially data compiled by the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, Kepler deduced a relationship … Read More
  • Kepler's First Law Ellipses and foci To understand Kepler's First Law completely it is necessary to introduce some of the mathematics of ellipses. In standard form the equation for an ellipse is: \begin{equation} \frac{x^2}{a^2} + \frac{y^2}… Read More

0 Comments:

Powered by Blogger.

Visitors

198497
Print Friendly Version of this pagePrint Get a PDF version of this webpagePDF


 download University Notes apps for android

Popular Posts

Flag Counter