Optics

Two Hundred Forty Sixth Post: Optics

I have found a great math book resource. I only have one of the books. The one I have is a self study in linear algebra. It seems to explain the theory very well, so the reader has an understanding on where the applications come from. If you are interested the link is: http://store.doverpublications.com/by-subject-science-and-mathematics-mathematics-general-and-popular-mathematics.html

But most recently I have had a question in optics. I have yet to study optics. But I have a stigmatism and wear glasses. Now wearing glasses isn’t so bad. However there are situations that they become undesirable. For instance, when qualifying with the rifle on the Army test. I would look through the site through my glasses, but if I wasn’t careful I would get a different sight picture each time depending on where I looked through my glasses. I had to adjust making sure my glasses were on straight and I looked through the focus of the lens. This becomes more difficult when you head is tilted and you are pressing your nose against the rifle to maintain the same sight picture with every shot.

So there are a few fundamentals of marksmanship. They are aiming, breathing, and trigger squeeze. With aiming comes judgement of lining up the sight, but also one of the most important factors to learn which is sight picture. Sight picture is just choosing the same way to look through the weapon and lining up the site in the same place for each different shot. This can be tricky with glasses, but there is no reason someone with glasses couldn’t shoot expert.

Now back to the science of glasses or optics. I have noticed with my nearsightedness due to a stigmatism or slight unfocused image on the retina caused by the shape of the eye, that objects are slightly blurry, or focused on closer objects. This is normal in fact, it is the definition of nearsightedness. But what I have notices is when looking through an enclosed tube such as a gun sight, hole in the top of a baseball cap, or other small tube my vision can now see things much more in focus than it could not looking through a small tube. The image is not perfect, but is noticeably better.

So what is my theory why this is so? I think light is hitting the eye’s lens and is out of focus. The lense is focusing the image right. We know that. But along with the image, light other than the focus point of the lense is getting focused along with the intended image the eye was focused on. In other words undesired light is being focused. That is why when the viewer looks through a small hole which blocks most of the light, the eye can better focus the image that is available. The further away the viewer looks over distance the more interference of the light due to a wider field of vision. I don’t know why a tiny hole in paper or gun sight would aid vision. This is just my theory. I don’t know how to make a lense that would utilize this. If this is true a person with a stigmatism should see slightly better with sun glasses. It is a question to ask your eye doctor or research why if you were glasses you need them.

But until I invent a new form of prescription glasses... May the Creative Force be with You