Optical instruments are the devices which processes light wave to enhance an image for more clear view. You use an optical instrument usually to make things bigger and to see fine details of objects with the help of something very simple like a magnifying glass or any complicated device like microscope or telescope. To make things look bigger, you should always use the converging lenses as diverging lenses always gets you smaller images. While using a converging lens, it’s important to remember the rules of thumb. And the first rules is, if any object is very far away, the image will be tiny and very close to the focal point, While the object moves towards the lens, the image moves out from the focal point and grows. The image and object are of the same size when object is placed at 2F which twice the focal distance from the lens. While moving the object from 2F towards the focal length (F), the image keeps moving out from the lens and grows till it goes to infinity. As the object moves closer to the lens, the image steadily moves towards the lens from minus infinity and gives you smaller the closer the object is to lens.VISUAL ANGLE Definition Visual angle is a dimension used to indicate the size of visual stimuli subtended at the eye without having to specify actual stimulus size or distance and is used to specify intraocular dimensions. ‘The Visual Angle, V degrees Es V=2arctan($/2D) Diagram showing visual angle V. Power of Accommodation The process by which the ciliary muscles change the focal length of an eye lens to focus distant or near objects clearly on the retina is called the accommodation of the eye. How Does an Eye Focus Objects at Varying Distances? To focus on distant objects the ciliary muscles relax making the eye lens thin. Asa result the focal length of the eye lens increases and we see the distant objects. But to focus on nearby objects the ciliary muscles contract making the eyelens thick. As a result the focal length of the eye lens decreases and we see the nearby objects. In short it is the adjustment of the focal length of the eye lens which enables us to focus on objects situated at different distances. To Focus on Distant Objects To Focus on Nearby Objects Near point or Least Distance of Distinct Vision Near point or least distance of distinct vision is the point nearest to the eye at which an object is visible distinctly. For a normal eye the least distance of distinct vision is about 25 centimetres. However, it varies with age of the person. For example, for infants it is only 5 to 8 cm. Far Point Far point of the eye is the maximum distance up to which the normal eye can see things clearly. Itis infinity for a normal eye. Range of Vision The distance between the near point and the far point is called the range of vision.Magnifying Power Magnifying power is defined as the ratio between the dimensions of the image and the object. The process of magnification can occur in lenses, telescopes, microscopes and even in slide projectors, Simple magnifying lenses are biconvex - these lenses are thicker at the center than at the edges. The magnifying glass was one of the first ever instruments which was used to magnifying an object. Magnification relates to the scaling up of images in order to see the fine details by increasing the image resolution.SIMPLE MICROSCOPE A microscope is an optical instrument which is used to see highly magnified images of tiny objects such as bacteria, cells , viruses and protozoans etc. because these tiny objects cannot be seen by naked eyes. There are two types of microscopes: 1, Simple microscope 2. Compound microscope Simple Microscope Asimple microscope is also called magnifying glass. Itis actually a convex lens of small focal length, which is used for seeing the magnified images of small objects. Principle of Simple Microscope Asimple microscope works on the principle that when a tiny object is placed within its focus, a virtual, erect and magnified image of the object is formed at the least distance of distinct vision from the eye held close to the lens.Working of Simple Microscope The ray diagram to show the working of simple microscope is shown in figure. A small object AB which is to be magnified is placed between the principal focus F’ and optical centre C of the convex lens. Now, a ray of light AO parallel to principal axis which is coming from the point A of the object passes through the focus F along the straight line OX after getting refracted by the convex lens. A second ray of light AC coming from the point A of the object passes through the optical centre C of the convex lens along the straight line CY. As is clear from the figure that the two rays i.e. OX and CY are diverging rays so these rays can intersect each other only at point A’ when produced backward. Now, on drawing A’B’ perpendicular from point A’ to the principal axis, we get the image A’B’ of the object which is virtual, erect and magnified. Uses of Simple Microscope Following are the important uses of simple microscope: 1. The simple microscope is commonly used by watch makers to see the magnified view of small parts of a watch. 2. Itis also used by the jewelers to see the magnified view of the fine parts of jewellery.wo . Simple microscope is used to see the enlarged image of letters of a book, textures of fibers or threads of a cloth. 4. Simple microscope is used to see the magnified view of different particles of different types of soils. a . Itis used by palmists to see enlarged view of the lines of our hand 6. Simple microscope is used by skin specialists to find out various diseases of skin, 7. Itis also used to see the details of stamp and engravings. Magnification of Simple Microscope The magnifying power of a simple microscope is given by: D m= 1+ f Where, D = least distance of distinct vision F = focal length of the convex lens It should be noted that the focal length of the convex lens should be small because smaller the focal length of the lens, greater will be its magnifying power. Also the maximum magnification of a simple microscope is about 10, which means that the object will appear 10 times larger by using the simple microscope of maximum magnification.COMPOUND MICROSCOPE A compound microscope is an optical instrument consisting of two convex lenses of short focal lengths which is used for observing the highly magnified images of tiny objects. The compound microscope can magnify the image ofa tiny object up to 1000. Principle of compound microscope Acompound microscope works on the principle that when a tiny object to be magnified is placed just beyond the focus of its objective lens, a virtual, inverted and highly magnified image of the object is formed at the least distance of distinct vision from the eye held close to the eye piece. Construction of compound microscope A compound microscope consists of two convex lenses: an objective lens O of small aperture and an eye piece E of large aperture. The lens which is placed towards the object is called objective lens, while the lens which is towards our eye is called eye piece. These two convex lenses ie. the objective and the eye piece have short focal length and are fitted at thefree ends of two sliding tubes at a suitable distance from each other. Although the focal length of both the objective lens and eye piece is short, but the focal length of the objective lens 0 is a little shorter than that of the eye piece E. The reason for using the eye piece of large focal length and large aperture in a compound microscope is, so that it may receive more light rays from the object to be magnified and form a bright image. Working of compound microscope The ray diagram to show the working of compound microscope is shown in figure. A tiny object AB to be magnified is placed in front of the objective lens just beyond its principal focus fo’. In this case, the objective lens 0 of the compound microscope forms a real, inverted and enlarged image A’B’ of the object. Now A’B’ acts as an object for the eye piece E, whose position is adjusted so that A’B’ lies between optical centre C2 and the focus fe’ of eye piece. Now the eye piece forms a final virtual, inverted and highly magnified image A’B”’. this final image A’B” is seen by our eye hold close to eye piece, after adjusting the final image A’B” at the least distance of distinct vision of 25 cm from the eye. Ray diagram of compound microscopeMagnification of compound microscope The magnification of compound microscope is given by: where, D =Least distance of distinct vision (25 cm) L= Length of the microscope tube fo = Focal length of the objective lens fe = Focal length of the eye-piece lensASTRONOMICAL TELESCOPE A telescope is an optical instrument which is used to see the distant objects. Telescopes are of two types: 1, Astronomical telescope 2. Galilean telescope or Terrestrial telescope Astronomical Telescope An astronomical telescope is an optical instrument which is used to see the magnified image of distant heavenly bodies like stars, planets, satellites and galaxies etc. The final image formed by an astronomical telescope is always virtual, inverted and magnified. Principle of Astronomical Telescope An astronomical telescope works on the principle that when an object to be magnified is placed at a large distance from the objective lens of telescope, a virtual, inverted and magnified image of the object is formed at the least distance of distinct vision from the eye held close to the eye piece,Construction of Astronomical Telescope An astronomical telescope consists of two convex lenses : an objective lens 0 and an eye piece E. the focal length fo of the objective lens of astronomical telescope is large as compared to the focal length fe of the eye piece. And the aperture of objective lens 0 is large as compared to that of eye piece, so that it can receive more light from the distant object and form a bright image of the distant object. Both the objective lens and the eye piece are fitted at the free ends of two sliding tubes, at a suitable distance from each other. Objective lens a Working of Astronomical telescope The ray diagram to show the working of the astronomical telescope is shown in figure. A parallel beam of light from a heavenly body such as stars, planets or satellites fall on the objective lens of the telescope. The objective lens forms a real, inverted and diminished image A’B’ of the heavenly body. This image (A’B") now acts as an object for the eye piece E, whose position is adjusted so that the image lies between the focus fe’ and the optical centre Cz of the eye piece. Now the eye piece forms a virtual,inverted and highly magnified image of object at infinity. When the final image of an object is formed at infinity, the telescope is said to be in ‘normal adjustment’. It should be noted that, the final image of object (such as stars, planets or satellites) formed by an astronomical telescope is always inverted with respect to the object. But it does not matter whether the image formed by an astronomical telescope is inverted or not, as all the heavenly bodies are usually spherical is shape. Magnifying Power of an Astronomical Telescope The Magnifying Power of a telescope is given by: fo m = fe Where, fo = Focal length of the objective lens fe = Focal length of the eye-piece lens And the length (L) of the tube of telescope is equal to the sum of the focal lengths of the objective lens and the eye piece. Thus, L= fo +feREFLECTING TELESCOPES The principal optical element, or objective, of a reflecting telescope is a mirror. The mirror forms an image of a celestial object (Fig, 3) which is then examined with an eyepiece, photographed, or studied in some other manner. Viewing a star with a reflecting telescope. In this configuration, the observer may block the mirror unless it is a very large telescope. Reflecting telescopes generally do not suffer from the size limitations of refracting telescopes. The mirrors in these telescopes can be as thick as necessary and can be supported by mechanisms that prevent sagging and thus inhibit excessive distortion. In addition, mirror materials having vanishingly small expansion coefficients, together with ribbing techniques that allow rapid equalization of thermal gradients in a mirror, have eliminated the major thermal problems plaguing telescope mirrors. Some advanced reflecting telescopes use segmented mirrors, composed of many separate pieces. By using a second mirror (and even a third one, in some telescopes), the optical path in a reflector can be folded back on itself, permitting a long focal length to be attained with an instrument housed in a short tube. A short tube can be held by a smaller mounting system and can be housed in asmaller dome than a long-tube refractor. In refracting telescope, the aperture of objective should be very large to make the image of a distance object bright. But in lenses of large aperture and large focal length there arise spherical and chromatic aberrations. Moreover itis difficult to prepare lenses of large aperture and they are very costly, That is why in reflecting telescope concave mirror of large apertureis used in place of convex lens, By the use of concave mirror, the defect of chromatic aberration is completely removed but the defect of spherical aberration still exists. To remove the spherical aberration too, the paraboloidal mirror is used in place of objective lens. Construction : It consists of a concave mirror of large aperture and large focal length fitted at one end of a wide tube. This mirror is called objective. The other end of tube is open and is directed towards the distant object. The tube carries a plane mirror Mz which is placed just before the principal focus of concave mirror and is inclined at an angle 45° to the principal axis of concave mirror Mi There is a narrow tube arranged in the side of wide tube. This tube carries a convex lens E of small aperture and small focal length. This lens E is called eye-piece. The eye-piece may be moved to and far in the tube. Working : Suppose AB is a distant object. The rays starting from AB fall on concave mirrorM: The reflected rays move towards principal focus of Mr but before being focussed they are reflected by plane mirror Mz The rays reflected from mirror M2 form real, diminished image A'B' This image acts as an object for eye-piece E and its position is adjusted between eye-piece and its first principal focus. The eye-piece forms a magnified virtual image A"B" Thus the final image A"B" formed by telescope is magnified. Fig. (a) represents Newtonian telescope. Cassegrain modified Newtonian telescope by using a convex secondary mirror to focus the rays coming from large objective mirror. The rays reflected from convex mirror pass through a hole in the objective mirror fig. (b). It is known as cassegrain telescope after its inventor. Magnifying Power : The magnifying power (M) of a telescope is the ratio of angle (B) subtended by final image on eye to the angle (a) subtended by object on eye. w, wat a This may be calculated just as for refracting telescope. If fo is the focal length of objective concave mirror and fe the focal length of eye-piece and final image is formed at distance of distinct vision, then magnifying power u-4{4) iD But if the final image is formed at infinity, then magnifying power, Modern reflecting telescope uses a paraboloidal mirror objective to remove spherical aberration.