Featured Article: How Telescopes Work
For centuries, curious observers have probed the heavens with the aid of telescopes. Today, both amateur and professional scopes magnify images in a variety of ways. See more »
optics library
Optics is the study of the properties and behavior of light. In this section you can learn about everything from holograms to lasers and lenses.
How 3-D Glasses Work
NASA’s Mars rovers are sending 3-D images to Earth, so we can see depth and texture on the Martian surface. And how do we see this depth and texture? 3-D glasses, of course! Check out how they work.
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How Holograms Work
If you want to see a hologram, you don't have to look much farther than your wallet. But the most impressive holograms are large scale and illuminated with lasers or displayed in a darkened room with carefully directed lighting. Learn how a hologram, light and your brain work together make clear, 3-D images.
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How Invisibility Cloaks Work
An invisibility cloak seems perfectly believable in the magical world of Harry Potter, but in the real world, it's impossible, right? Not so fast.
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How Laser Analysis Works
A venerable work of art hangs lifeless in a museum, the once brilliant scene dulled by centuries of dirt and grime. Can laser analysis and modern art restoration techniques save the masterpiece?
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How Lasers Work
Lasers are used in CD players, dental drills, eye surgery, and even tattoo removal. But what exactly is a laser? There are numerous types, but all lasers work basically the same way. Learn how they generate such concentrated beams of light.
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How Light Microscopes Work
The human eye misses a lot -- enter the incredible world of the microscopic! Explore how a light microscope works.
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How Light Works
When we see an object, we are actually seeing light -- light that somehow left the object and reached our eyes. We also encounter light in things that produce it, from light bulbs, to lasers, to lightning bugs, to the sun.
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How Mirages Work
You're driving down the road on a sunny day, and you see a puddle of water coming up. You look again and it's gone! What happened? Learn what causes different kinds of mirages.
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How Scanning Electron Microscopes Work
Unlike the cheap microscopes you peered into in school, these advanced instruments can breathe rich detail into the tiny world around us, including the world of nanotechnology.
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How Telescopes Work
For centuries, curious observers have probed the heavens with the aid of telescopes. Today, both amateur and professional scopes magnify images in a variety of ways.
See more »
Invisibility Cloak For Real This Time?
We first reported on the possibility of an invisibility cloak last year. Now a different invisibility cloak is making the news -- one that uses metamaterials to redirect light away from the wearer.
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Is it possible to make a cloaking device?
A group of scientists from Duke University have demonstrated a simplified cloaking device. Learn about the cloaking device that the Duke scientists created and find out if a real-life cloaking device is actually possible.
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Is there a light 10 billion times brighter than the sun?
The Diamond synchrotron is a massive facility that houses a beam of light 10 billion times brighter than the sun. But is that all it does?
See more »Aberration
Aberration, in optics, a condition that causes blurring, loss of clearness, or distortion of shape in the images formed by lenses or curved mirrors.
See more »Angstrom
Angstrom, an extremely small unit of length that is used primarily in expressing the wavelengths of visible light.
See more »Binoculars
Binoculars, optical instruments consisting of two small telescopes mounted side by side, one for each eye, and a focusing mechanism.
See more »Black
Black, the lack of color. When light strikes an object, all light waves are absorbed except those of the color of the object.
See more »Blue
Blue, one of the primary colors. Minerals such as turquoise, azurite, labradorite, and lapis lazuli are blue.
See more »Brown
Brown, a color. It is a mixture of red and yellow, with some black. Brown is a common color in nature.
See more »Color
Color, a class of sensations made by light on the optic nerve. All colors—whether seen in nature or applied by man with pigments through painting, dyeing, or printing—are caused by light and the way light affects the eyes.
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