What is a concave lens?
A concave lens is thinner in the middle than the outer parts of the lens.
What is a convex lens?
A concave lens is thicker in the middle than the outer parts of the lens.
What is the focal point of a lens?
The focal point of a lens is the location in space where parallel light rays traveling towards the mirror will meet after refraction.
What is the radius of curvature of a lens?
The radius of curvature of a lens is the radius of the sphere from which the lens was cut from.
What is a real image?
A real image is an image formed from light rays that strike a lens in which the light rays converge and pass through the image.
What is a virtual image?
A virtual image is an image formed from light rays that strike a lens in which the light rays diverge and do not pass through the image.
What is an enlarged image?
An enlarged image is an image that is formed by an object and the enlarged image is larger than the original object.
What is a reduced image?
A reduced image is an image that is formed by an object and the reduced image is smaller than the original object.
What is an upright image?
An upright image is an image formed by an object when the top of the object coincides with the top of the image.
What is an inverted image?
An inverted image is an image formed by an object when the top of the object coincides with the bottom of the image.
What are principal light rays?
Principal light rays are three rays that are used to visually locate and size the image formed by a mirror.
What is an incident light ray?
An incident light ray is either emitted from or reflected off an object and reaches a lens.
What is a refracted light ray?
A refracted light ray is a light ray that is bent when it moves through a lens.
What is the Law of Refraction?
The Law of Refraction describes how light rays behave as they move from one medium to another medium.
What is the index of refraction?
The index is a ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum compared to the speed of light in a different medium. The greater the index of refraction, the slower the speed of light through the medium and the greater the bending of the light from its incident angle.
What is the diameter of a lens?
The lens diameter is the measurement of the front-most part of a lens. The larger the diameter, the greater the amount of light can pass through the lens.
What is an optical axis?
An optical axis is an imaginary line the defines the path of light rays and goes through the center of the lens.
What is the normal with respect to a lens?
The normal is an imaginary line perpendicular to the surface of the lens.
What is an intensive property?
An intensive property is a property of a material that does not depend on the amount of a material present. Density and melting points are examples of intensive properties.
What is an extensive property?
An extensive property is a property of a material that does depend on the amount of a material present. Mass and volume are two examples of extensive properties.
Lenses are optical devices that are at the heart of corrective eyeglasses, telescopes, and microscopes. But which lens is best for a specific application? Get started now with your investigation of lenses.
