How Binoculars, Telescopes, Space Pens, & More Are Made | How It's Made | Science Channel

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Binoculars and reflecting telescopes undergo intricate processes involving grinding, polishing, coating, and assembly to produce high-quality optics, with each component meticulously crafted to ensure optimal performance and clarity in viewing. The use of glass prisms, lens coatings, nitrogen gas, and rigorous testing procedures are essential in creating binoculars and telescopes that deliver precise, distortion-free images for users.

Insights

  • Binoculars utilize prisms and lenses to project a right-side-up image, with precise manufacturing processes like grinding, polishing, and coating to ensure optical clarity and quality.
  • Reflecting telescopes employ mirrors and coatings to concentrate light for viewing, requiring meticulous steps like grinding, polishing, and assembling components to create a functional and effective optical instrument.

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Recent questions

  • How do binoculars work?

    Binoculars work by using lenses to project an image just behind the objectives, which are then flipped right side up using glass prisms mounted on steel plates with UV light activated glue.

  • What is the process of making prisms?

    Prisms are made by gluing two pieces of glass together at a precise 90° angle using a special machine, with UV light drying the glue and rotating the inverted image 90° twice to complete the flip.

  • How are lenses coated in binoculars?

    Lenses in binoculars are coated with an anti-reflection coating by loading mineral pellets into a vacuum chamber, where a beam of electrons evaporates the pellets into microscopic particles that coat the lenses.

  • What is the purpose of injecting nitrogen gas into binoculars?

    Nitrogen gas is injected into binoculars to prevent lens fogging, ensuring clear vision, with rigorous testing including vibration, water pressure, extreme heat, and freezing temperatures to ensure mechanical and optical perfection.

  • How are reflecting telescopes assembled?

    Reflecting telescopes are assembled by screwing lenses into the metal housing, adding a mount mechanism for the eyepiece, securing the primary mirror, attaching the baffle and mirror assembly to the telescope tube, and equipping the tube with a secondary mirror for magnification and viewing.

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Summary

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Creating High-Quality Optical Devices: A Guide

  • Binoculars are handheld double telescopes where light rays from the object being viewed enter the lenses on the far end, known as the objectives, projecting an image just behind those lenses inside the binoculars housing.
  • To turn the upside-down image right side up, each binocular half requires a glass prism, mounted on steel plates using UV light activated glue, and then taken through grinding and polishing steps to ensure a pristine surface.
  • Prisms are made by gluing two pieces of glass together at a precise 90° angle using a special machine, with UV light drying the glue, rotating the inverted image 90° twice to complete the flip.
  • Objectives, the curved lenses, undergo similar grinding, polishing, and cleaning processes as the prisms, followed by a nine-stage computer-guided cleaning process before being glued together to limit distortion.
  • Mineral pellets are loaded into a vacuum chamber to produce an anti-reflection lens coating, with a beam of electrons evaporating the pellets into microscopic particles that coat the lenses.
  • Assembling the binoculars involves cleaning lenses with compressed nitrogen, securing them in place with threaded holding rings, gluing prisms behind the objectives, aligning focal points, and silicone sealing for an airtight finish.
  • Nitrogen gas is injected into the housing to prevent lens fogging, with rigorous testing including vibration, water pressure, extreme heat, and freezing temperatures to ensure mechanical and optical perfection.
  • Reflecting telescopes concentrate light with mirrors, starting with machining cylindrical metal parts for baffles and a spider framework, coating metal parts with protective oxide, and molding a thick glass disc for the primary mirror.
  • The glass disc undergoes grinding, polishing, and coating processes to form a glossy mirror surface, with titanium oxide, silicon monoxide, and aluminum evaporating onto the glass in a vacuum chamber to create the reflective coating.
  • Assembling the telescope involves screwing lenses into the metal housing, adding a mount mechanism for the eyepiece, securing the primary mirror, attaching the baffle and mirror assembly to the telescope tube, and equipping the tube with a secondary mirror for magnification and viewing.
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