OPTICAL BENCH

OBJECT:

How to make an Optical Bench.

MATERIALS:

One large square can, last resort square can from olive oil, because of the oil coating, you will have a difficult time working with it. Can opener, A 60 - 75 watt light bulb, and socket, Extension cord, White paper, White stiff paper ( like index card ) with a metric strip of about 7 cm in length; Two screen supports, A lens with it support jacket, Two foot PVC pipe with metric strip attached, Leg supports from SBB, Opaque 5 cm object, preferable from black construction paper, A PVC " T " connector, modified, by cutting a half section from top of it ( you will need vice and a hack saw for the modification).

PROCEDURE:

1. With the can opener, open bottom of the square can, as indicated in the diagram, notice that the half that you open is opposite the spout of the can. With leather working gloves, push the top half toward the inside. Take the cord to the light and thread the plug through the opening of the spout. Be careful not to damage the cord. Glue your 5 cm opaque object on to a piece of white paper and position it over the opening, in such a manner so it will look like the diagram. Secure the paper with tape as needed. So that the lens and the screen are in line of sight of the black opaque object. Don't forget that opaque object, the lens and the screen with the metric strip are adjustable to some degree.

CAUTION: Because the light bulb is in a confined space the can will get hot, so every chance that you get, turn light bulb off, when not in use!

2. The object will be to find the focal length of the lens, when the projected image will measure the same height as the object, this means that you are exactly at 2 x F. Unless you buy special lens for this lab, the best that we can do is use a small magnifying lens, which will have a very short focal length.

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