In this lab session you will be learning about optics by studying the properties of thin lenses. The exercises will lead up to the construction of a simple telescope. Introduction Optics, the study of light and how it can be manipulated, is a very important branch of physics.
Most optical devices work using either refraction or reflection.
In this lab, we will be looking at refraction, which refers to the bending of the path of light as it traverses the interface between to different substances. A lens is a device that uses this property to change the path of light rays. If the lens surfaces are concave, the lens will tend to focus the light. Consider the drawing of a lens in Figure 1, which shows several parallel light rays travelling through a lens. Because of the curved surface of the glass, the paths of the light rays are brought to a focus at the focal point.