Binoculars can take you from your comfort zone to a new horizon without you moving your feet. These devices utilize physics to make viewing distant objects possible. Binoculars are based on the science of optics and some pretty clever tricks that lenses pull in the light. Another interesting read is: what are binoculars?. Now, let’s get to our question: what are binoculars made of?
Binoculars Use Lenses
Lenses are eye components in binoculars, telescopes, and glasses. As we learned in physics, refraction, and reflection happen when light travels from one medium to another. These lights refract/reflect at different angles.
Lenses Types Used in Binoculars
Lenses are often a curved piece of glass that is shaped to look like a lentil. Actually, the lens comes from the Latin word “lentil’. When light travel from one medium to another, depending on the medium, the lights get slowed down and will refract in a different angle.
This effect occurs on glasses as well. When a lens is designed such that the middle of the lens is thicker than the outside surface. This causes any light rays that is entering the lens to get a bend in the middle of the glass.
This type of lens is called a convex lens. The ability of the lens to absorb the lights and bring distant lights rays to focus is called converging and such a lens is called a converging lens.
This behavior of lenses causes objects to appear bigger in the viewer’s eye and that’s why convex lenses are often been used in magnifying glasses.
Another type of curved lens curves the opposite way, as for this type, it is designed such that the middle part is thinner while the outside is thicker. These are called a concave lens. Concave lens absorbs the lights and spread it out in lines like fireworks. For that reason, the concave lens Is also called a converging lens. These kinds of lenses you often find in movie projectors. Also, there are other uses of binoculars you might know.
Binoculars are fundamentally made of two lenses; namely, the objective lens which is closest to the object you are viewing and the eyepiece lens which is closer to your eye. These two lenses perform the magnification of the image.
Prisms
The third component that is the found in the binoculars is the prism. When the lenses magnify the image, even though it appears bigger to the eye now, but the image is mostly inverted.
Which you will agree with me will not be that pleasant to watch if unless you are watching the stars, Otherwise it won’t be the best if you are trying to watch the action in the sports stadium or watching your favorite birds fly in the sky.
The prism which is a large glass was invented to turn the inverted images created by the lenses straight up. There are two types of prisms used in binoculars. We have the roof prisms and the Porro prisms. You will mostly find that the type of prism used in the set of binoculars will be indicated like; roof prism binoculars or Porro prism binoculars.
Read more on How Binoculars work here.