What is Optics?
Optics: : [op-tiks] - nounA branch of physics that studies electromagnetic radiation (for example, light and infrared radiation), its interactions with matter, and instruments used to gather information due to these interactions. Optics includes the study of sight.
Some Facts
Optics Timeline
Optics is the physical science that studies the origin and propagation of light, how it changes, what effects it produces, and other phenomena associated with it. This "Optics Timeline" highlights important events and developments in the science of optics from prehistory to the beginning of the 21st century. It also includes related developments in other fields and related milestones in the human worldview. TimeLine.Optics is both science and engineering
Optics involves both science and engineering. Optics is a field of such variety that scientists and engineers with all kinds of interests contribute to it. Optics is a vibrant and growing field with a rich history. Both Science and Engineering.The Eye
The eye is a sophisticated, one-lens system for imaging visible light. How does the eye work?Make a Telescope
This activity demonstrates how to make a simple telescope using two lenses and a cardboard tube.Directions
- Take your cardboard tube and cut it down to the length of the two focal lengths of the lenses (for example: if I have 10cm and 20cm lenses, I would need a 30cm tube). Hold a lens at the floor under a ceiling light and move the lens up until you see an image of the light fixture on the floor. The distance between the floor and the lens is its focal length.
- Now attach the lenses to either end of the tube using the sticky tape, but try not to obscure the view through the tube.
- Using your felt tip pen, color the end of the tube with the shorter focal length lens so you know which direction to look through (the end with the lens with the shorter focal length).
- Now look though the end that you've marked and you're looking through a telescope! The first thing you'll notice is that the image you see is upside down. Real telescopes have many lenses in them so the image always appears the right side up.
- If the focal lengths of your lenses were about the same, you might not think there's much of a difference in image size. If you look through the telescope with one eye, however, and look straight at the object with the other you should be able to see both the magnified and the unmagnified image and compare the two. Guess how many times larger the image is than the object. In theory if you divide the larger focal length by the smaller one you should get the magnification of the telescope. If you take the case above where we had a 10cm focal length lens and a 20cm focal length lens then you divide 20 by 10 and get 2. Therefore that telescope would have a magnification of x2. Did you guess the right magnification for your telescope?
Materials
Reflection
Now, do you know what optics is?Please check yourself:
- Summarize the meaning of optics in 3 sentences;
- What facts do you know about optics?
- Using the principles learned, can you create any activities?