Lens simulator

[HOLONYAK]

This thing really helped me understand lenses. In the green box at the top, hit "screen": This turns the pencil into a bulb.
You can click primary and marginal rays to see spill and hotspot size.
You can also drag the lamp, lens, and screen left, right, and up/down.
:twothumbs
http://phet.colorado.edu/sims/geometric-optics/geometric-optics_en.html

 

[SmurfTacular]

I thought this was going to be stupid, but it was actually quite interesting. Thanks for sharing.

I wish you could change the dimensions of the lens.

 

[HOLONYAK]

I thought this was going to be stupid, but it was actually quite interesting. Thanks for sharing.

I wish you could change the dimensions of the lens.

You can to some degree. Just use the 3 slide levers in the green box at the top. I wanted to turn it into more of a sphere shape b/c I'm working with a rod lens at the moment, but it wont let me change it that much.

 

[King_Arthur]

here another simple but good optic-simulator:

http://www.schulphysik.de/java/physlet/applets/optik1.html

its in german, but no problem all what you need is :
linse=lens
punktquelle = ideal lightsource
alles löschen = delete all
markiertes löschen = delete marked object

the lens focal point can be changed by drag and drop

good for testing precollimator and collimator settings

btw, what do you think about this collimator setting/build: