GATE:OpticalInstrumentsandLuminousFlux

Prisms
Whenabeamofwhitelightpassesthrougharaindrop,oraglassprism,itissplitintothecoloursof
therainbow.Inoptics,aprismisadeviceusedtorefractlight,reflectitorbreakitup(todisperseit)
intoitsconstituentspectralcolours(coloursoftherainbow).Thetraditionalgeometricalshapeisthat
ofatriangularprism,withatriangularbaseandrectangularsides.Sometypesofopticalprismsare
notinfactintheshapeofgeometricprisms.
Aslightmovesfromonemedium(e.g.Air)toanotherdensermedium(theglassoftheprism),itis
sloweddownandasaresulteitherbent(refracted)orreflected.Theanglethatthebeamoflightmakes
withtheinterfaceaswellastherefractiveindicesofthetwomediadeterminewhetheritisreflectedor
refracted,andbyhowmuch(seerefraction,totalinternalreflection).
Reflectiveprismsareusedtoreflectlight,forinstanceinbinoculars,sincetheyareeasierto
manufacturethanmirrors.Dispersiveprismsareusedtobreakuplightintoitsconstituentspectral
coloursbecausetherefractiveindexdependsonfrequency(seedispersion)thewhitelightentering
theprismisamixtureofdifferentfrequencies,eachofwhichgetsbentslightlydifferently.Bluelightis
sloweddownmorethanredlightandwillthereforebebentmorethanredlight.Therearealso
polarizingprisms(alsoknownasbirefringentprisms)whichcansplitabeamoflightintocomponents
ofvaryingpolarization.
IsaacNewtonfirstthoughtthatprismssplitcoloursoutofcolourlesslight.Newtonplacedasecond
prismsuchthataseparatedcolourwouldpassthroughitandfoundthecolourunchanged.He
concludedthatprismsseparatecolours.Healsousedalensandasecondprismtorecomposethe
rainbowintowhitelight.

Eye
Youreyeprojectsanupsidedownimageofwhatyouarelookingatontotheretina.Specialcellsinthe
retinatransmitinformationaboutthelightthathitsthemtothebrain,whichthenbuildsupapicture
wecansee.Thelensintheeyeensuresthatweseeasharpandwellfocussedimage.
ShortSight
Shortsight.Theeyes,inpeoplewhosufferfromshortsight,focuslightfromadistantobjectinfrontof
theretina.Aconcavelenswillcorrectthis.
Longsight.Theeyes,inpeoplewhosufferfromlongsight,focuslightfromanearobjectbehindthe
retina.Aconvexlenswillcorrectthis.

Cameras
Acameraisadeviceusedtotakepictures(usuallyphotographs),eithersinglyorinsequence,withor
withoutsoundrecording,suchaswithvideocameras.Acamerathattakespicturessinglyissometimes

calledaphotocameratodistinguishitfromavideocamera.Thenameisderivedfromcameraobscura,
Latinfordarkchamberanearlymechanismforprojectingimagesinwhichanentireroom
functionedmuchastheinternalworkingsofamodernphotographiccamera,excepttherewasnoway
atthistimetorecordtheimageshortofmanuallytracingit.Camerasmayworkwiththevisual
spectrumorotherportionsoftheelectromagneticspectrum.
Alensisusedinacameratoallowbothalargehole(aperture)andasharpimage.Thelensbendsthe
lightraysfromasinglepointontheobjectbacktoasinglefocussedpointonthefilm.

SLRCamera
Singlelensreflexcamera.Amoderncameradirectsthelightfromthelenstotheviewfinder,viaa
mirror.Whenthebuttonispressed,themirrorflipsup,theshutteropensandthefocussedlight
fallsonthefilm.
Pinholecamera.Apinholecameracantakeaverysharpphotograph.Thisisbecausethepinholeis
verysmallandonlyletsthroughatinyamountofsharplyfocussedlight.Itcantakeseveral
minutesbeforeenoughlighthasreachedthefilmforapicturetoform.
Pinholeimagefocussed.Liketheeye,apinholecameraprojectsanupsidedownimage.The
pinholeisverysmallandonlyletsthroughatinyamountofsharplyfocussedlight.
Pinholeimageunfocussed.Whenthepinholeislarge,thelightfromasinglepointontheobject
givesablurredimageonthefilm.

Microscopes&Magnifiers
Thiscommonmicroscopecanbefoundinmanyschoollaboratories.Amirrorisusedtodirectlight
throughthespecimen.
Amicroscope(Greek:Micron=smallandscopos=aim)isaninstrumentforviewingobjectsthatare
toosmalltobeseenbythenakedorunaidedeye.Thescienceofinvestigatingsmallobjectsusingsuch
aninstrumentiscalledmicroscopy,andthetermmicroscopicmeansminuteorverysmall,noteasily
visiblewiththeunaidedeye.Inotherwords,requiringamicroscopetoexamine.
Themostcommontypeofmicroscopeandthefirsttobeinventedistheopticalmicroscope.Thisisan
opticalinstrumentcontainingoneormorelensesthatproduceanenlargedimageofanobjectplaced
inthefocalplaneofthelens(es).
Diode
Dioderectifiesorconvertsalternatingcurrent(AC)todirectcurrent(DC).
Diodeismadeoftwodifferentparts.Onepartiscalledptypeandotherpartiscalledntype.In
between,wecallitthepnjunction.Ptypeissiliconmixedwithboron,andntypeissiliconmixed
withphosphorous.Inordertoexplainhowitworks,wemustknowabouttheoctetruleandvalence

electrons.
Theoctetruleisthatbondednonmetialicatomshaseightelectronoutermostshellorenergylevel.It
meansthatwhentwochemicalsreacteachotherandproduceaproduct,itsoutershellhaseight
electrons.Thevalenceelectronsaretheelectronsmovingaroungthemostoutershellofanindividual
atomandtheyareofteninvolvedintochemicalreactionbonding.

LED(LightEmittingDiode)
LEDisLightEmittingDiodeandtherearemanytypesofLED.Itismadeofsemiconductorswhichis
relatedwithGalliumandArsenic.Somecanemitlight,andsomecandetectlight,andsomecaneven
detectradiation.LEDisusedaslightindicatorswhichcanbeseeninalmosteveryelectronicproduct
(suchasTVremotecontroller,signofcomputerscreen,NumLocklightinkeyboard,scoreboard,etc).
Itworksexactlythesameasdiode,butwhenelectronsjumpfromntypetoptype,theylosesome
energywhichisconvertedtolight.Becausealltheenergyisconvertedtolight,LEDsdonotconsume
muchenergyandcanoperateatlowvoltages.Theyshouldnotbeoperatedatmorethan40mA
(miliampere)or0.04A(ampere)or2.2V(volts).Otherwise,theywillblowup:
LEDemissionisvisibleinthespectrumwavelengthsfrom0.4to0.7morinthenearinfrared,which
wecannotsee,thatofwavelengthsbetween2.0and0.7m.Morethan20billionLEDsareproduced
eachyear.

Luminousandilluminatedbodies
Lightisproducedbyaluminousbody.Alightbulbisaluminousbodythatemitslightinalmostevery
direction.Lighttravelsinstraightlinesat299,792,458mpersecinvacuum.Whenlighthitsan
object,itisreflected.Anilluminatedbodyreflectslight.
Whenarayoflightreachesoureyes,thereceptorsinoureyeswillproduceadifferentcolorsensation
dependingonthewavelengthofthelightwave.

Luminousfluxandilluminance
Theamountoflightproducedperunitoftimeiscalledtheluminousflux,P.Theunitforthisisthe
lumen,lm.
Ifweonlywanttoknowtheamountoflightproducedbyasourceonaspecificobject(table,chair),we
havetousetheformulaforilluminance,E.Thisformulatellsustheamountoflightpermetersquare
atacertaindistance.E=P/4(pi)d2
Thus,theilluminanceisjusttheluminousfluxdividedbytheareaofasphere.Whyasphere?For
example,letsputtwoobjectsindifferentplaces,bothofthemtwometersawayfromasourceoflight.
Asyoucanseetheilluminanceontheseobjectsisthesame.Thisisbecausealmosteverysourceof
lightemitslightinalldirectionsandtwoobjectswithinthesameradiusreceivethesameamountof
light.However,objectsthatareplacedatdifferentdistanceshavedifferentilluminations.

Thecloseranobjectistoasourceoflight,themoreilluminateditwillbe.

Colors
Red,greenandblueareknownasprimarycolors,becausewhentheyareaddedtogetherwhitelightis
formed.
Bymixingprimarycolorsinpairsweobtainsecondarycolors.Redandgreenproduceyellow.Blueand
redproducemagenta,andblueandgreenproducecyan.