Optical Lens Interactive Tutorials

• Bi-Concave Lenses

  Follow as this tutorial allows visitors to explore by moving an object back and forth in from of a bi-concave lens and view what happens both virtual and real images of the object.

• Bi-Convex Lenses

  Another interactive lens tutorial that allows students to move an object back and forth in from of a bi-convex lens and view what happens both virtual and real images of the object.

• Plano-Convex Lenses (Object Facing Curved Surface)

  Explore lens action and how object distance affects image formation with plano-convex lenses when the object is facing the convex surface of the lens in this tutorial.

• Plano-Convex Lenses (Object Facing Flat Surface)

  Discover lens action and how object distance affects image formation with plano-convex lenses when the object is facing the flat surface of the lens.

• Plano-Concave Lenses (Object Facing Curved Surface)

  Explore how an object is imaged when the object faces the curved surface of a plano-concave lens in this interactive tutorial.

• Plano-Concave Lenses (Object Facing Flat Surface)

  Examine how an object is imaged when the object faces the flat surface of a plano-concave lens in this interactive tutorial.

• Positive Meniscus Lenses

  Learn more about magnification by a simple positive meniscus lens. Using a mouse and placing the cursor on the soldier, the student can move him back and forth to view different levels of magnification.

• Negative Meniscus Lenses

  Negative meniscus lenses are used as alternatives to other negative lenses and are appropriate for the high index materials as they are used in beam expanding applications where minimal spherical aberration is desired.

• Refractive Index Effects on Convex Lenses

  Explore how changes in the refractive index of a lens material affects the focal point of the lens in this tutorial. It also examines how changes in the imaging medium refractive index induce a change in the lens focal point.

• The Variable Lens

  Discover and learn about the effect of lens shape on image formation in this interactive tutorial. The visitor is able to configure a lens to be concave, convex, flat, or a combination of the three.

• Simple Bi-Convex Thin Lenses

  Analyze the relationship and see how changes to the focal length and object size affect the size and position of the focused image formed by a simple thin lens in this interactive tutorial.

• Magnification with a Bi-Convex Lens

  Single lenses capable of forming images are useful in tools designed for simple magnification applications, such as loupes, eyeglasses, single-lens, etc. See how a simple bi-convex lens can be used to magnify an image.

• Image Formation with Converging Lenses

  Ray traces are utilized to show how images are formed by the primary types of converging lenses, and the relationship between the object and image formed by the lens as a function of distance between the object and focal points.

• Image Formation with Diverging Lenses

  Ray traces are utilized to show how images are formed by the primary types of converging lenses, and the relationship between the object and image formed by the lens as a function of distance between the object and focal points.

• Numerical Aperture and Magnification Effects

  In optical microscopy, image brightness is governed by the light-gathering power of the objective, which is a function of numerical aperture. Magnification also plays a role in determining the brightness as explored in this tutorial.

• Lens Shape: Effect on Lens Action Flash Tutorial

  Explore the variable lens using Flash instead of Java in this featured tutorial. See how changing the shape of a lens affects the action of the lens.