The Fresnel Lens
The Fresnel Lens
Do you know what the largest light house in America? Or how many steps it takes to get to the top? I do. It’s Cape Hatteras light house in Buxton, NC. It was completed in 1971 and stands 193 feet in the air. It takes 268 steps to climb to the top. I visited this light house in August of 2010 I had the pleasure of seeing the 6,000 lb. bronze and crystal lens. In 1803 it was replaced due to being damaged by vandals.
Light houses from the 18th century used burning candles, oil lamps, burning coal and wood to warn ships that they were approaching land. The coast line was still being littered with ribs of broken ships whose captains couldn’t see the shore line. In 1822 Augustin Fresnel, a French physicist and engineer invented a lens that would change light houses everywhere. Fresnel contributed to the theory of wave optics and studied the behavior of light both theoretically and experimentally. Fresnel worked on numerous formulas to calculate the way light changed directions, while passing through the prisms. He worked with some of the most advanced glass makers of his day. He later found out that when using the prisms and angling them to gather light, it intensified and it would project outward. Fresnel’s greatest creation is a large object that resembles a beehive, and is on display at the National Museum of American History. The Fresnel lens is not just one lens but a number of prisms. The prisms turned the flames into beams making it easier for captains to see the shore lines before it was too late.
The shape of a lens makes a big difference. The lens is a transparent piece of glass or plastic with at least one curved surface. There are two types of lenses used today, the convex lens, which is also commonly called the positive lens, and the concave lens. The glass or plastic surfaces of the convex lens bulge outwards in the center. This lens also makes a parallel light ray which passes through bending it inward. The concave lens is the
Do you know what the largest light house in America? Or how many steps it takes to get to the top? I do. It’s Cape Hatteras light house in Buxton, NC. It was completed in 1971 and stands 193 feet in the air. It takes 268 steps to climb to the top. I visited this light house in August of 2010 I had the pleasure of seeing the 6,000 lb. bronze and crystal lens. In 1803 it was replaced due to being damaged by vandals.
Light houses from the 18th century used burning candles, oil lamps, burning coal and wood to warn ships that they were approaching land. The coast line was still being littered with ribs of broken ships whose captains couldn’t see the shore line. In 1822 Augustin Fresnel, a French physicist and engineer invented a lens that would change light houses everywhere. Fresnel contributed to the theory of wave optics and studied the behavior of light both theoretically and experimentally. Fresnel worked on numerous formulas to calculate the way light changed directions, while passing through the prisms. He worked with some of the most advanced glass makers of his day. He later found out that when using the prisms and angling them to gather light, it intensified and it would project outward. Fresnel’s greatest creation is a large object that resembles a beehive, and is on display at the National Museum of American History. The Fresnel lens is not just one lens but a number of prisms. The prisms turned the flames into beams making it easier for captains to see the shore lines before it was too late.
The shape of a lens makes a big difference. The lens is a transparent piece of glass or plastic with at least one curved surface. There are two types of lenses used today, the convex lens, which is also commonly called the positive lens, and the concave lens. The glass or plastic surfaces of the convex lens bulge outwards in the center. This lens also makes a parallel light ray which passes through bending it inward. The concave lens is the