Convex lenses bulge outwards, bending the light out in a spray (diverging beam). A hand-held magnifying glass is a single concave lens with a handle. These lenses have been used as ‘burning glasses’ for hundreds of years – by placing a small piece of paper at its focal point and using the sun as a light source, you can focus the light energy so intensely that you reach the flash point of the paper (the paper auto-ignites around 450oF).


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When you stack a large convex lens above a solar panel, the magnification effect makes it so you can get away with using a smaller photovoltaic cell to get the same amount of energy from the sun. You’ll find convex lenses in telescopes, microscopes, binoculars, eyeglasses, and more.



Click here to go to next lesson on Thin Lenses

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Comments

2 Responses to “Convex Lenses”

  1. Yes, you’ll want to explore Unit 9 lesson 1. 🙂

  2. Kate Tanaka says:

    My son is really interested in lenses and optics, do you have a course on that in the K – 8 range?