How does the power of a lens affect its ability to focus light?

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The discussion centers on how the power of a lens affects its ability to focus light, particularly through experiments with different liquids in bottles. It highlights that denser liquids with higher refractive indices lower the focal length, increasing lens power and resulting in faster burns of paper placed at the focal point. The inverse square law is clarified as not applicable in this context, as it pertains to diverging light rather than focused beams. Furthermore, the relationship between focal length and spot size is explained; shorter focal lengths create smaller images with higher intensity, while longer focal lengths result in larger images and lower intensity. Overall, the findings emphasize the importance of focal length in determining the effectiveness of light concentration.
  • #31
Well then my guess was wrong, but I'm not surprised.
 
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  • #32
Well, you're correct in that you need to take the aberrations into account to determine how well the image is focused at the focal plane, which will affect how fast the OP burns through paper.
 
  • #33
Meron35 said:
So I've been doing some experiments, using bottles filled with various liquids and timing how long they take to burn paper which is placed at the focal point (where the light was focused).
This is an interesting investigation---is it something you thought up, or is it in a science program you are studying at school?
 

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