Why do my eyelashes look enormous

  • Context: High School 
  • Thread starter Thread starter Mr.V.
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the perception of size when viewing eyelashes through a microscope, exploring the optical principles involved in magnification and focus. Participants share their understanding of how microscopes work, particularly in relation to the human eye and the nature of light refraction.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant notes that while they understand the magnification of the slide image, they are confused about why objects in front of the eyepiece, like eyelashes, appear magnified.
  • Another participant suggests that the issue may be better addressed by those with a biology background, indicating a potential divide in expertise related to the use of microscopes.
  • A different participant asks about the educational context, mentioning that discussions of refraction and lenses typically include examples of microscopes and telescopes, implying that foundational knowledge may be lacking.
  • One participant challenges the notion of magnification, proposing that the appearance of size is due to focus rather than actual magnification, and describes an experiment with a toothpick to illustrate this point.
  • This same participant explains that the microscope allows light to be directed in a way that enables close objects to be seen clearly, which is not possible with the naked eye due to limitations in focusing light from very close distances.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the nature of magnification and focus, with some agreeing on the optical principles while others remain uncertain about the specifics of how these principles apply to the perception of size in this context. The discussion does not reach a consensus on the explanation of the phenomenon.

Contextual Notes

Some participants indicate a lack of familiarity with the optical details of microscopes, and there are references to educational materials that may not be universally accessible or understood.

Mr.V.
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...when looking through a micrcoscope? I for the most part understand why the image on the slide is magnified. I'm not quite sure why anything that sits in front of the eyepiece gets magnified.

This must have to do somehow with its compound nature of the microscope because when I look through a single magnifying glass, my eyelashes look normal sized.
 
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Oh yeah, I had that same problem too... the bio people might be able to help you though. I don't remember using microscopes in physics much, mostly in biology.
 
Which grade are you? Normally when refraction and lens are taught in schools the texts also give examples of how things like telescope, microscope, etc work.
Do you have knowledge about the size of eye-piece and objective of microscope. The eye piece makes a virtual image of the real inverted image made by objective which is real. Probably you must refer some books of higher grades.
 
Mr.V. said:
I'm not quite sure why anything that sits in front of the eyepiece gets magnified.
It's not actually magnified as I once found out, it is merely brought into focus. Try this experiment. Place a toothpick across the lens and look through the microscope. The toothpick will seem to be magnified. But now, move your eye back very slowly so that you can see both the portion of the toothpick that covers the lens and the portion that does not. You should see that both parts are actually the same size, the difference being that the part over the lens is focussed while the other part is not. It looks big because it's close AND it seems to be in focus.

Normally we cannot see close objects like our eyelashes or a toothpick that is too close because light this close cannot be focussed on the retina. But when we use a microscope then the light coming into our eye is directed (through lenses) and aimed differently. I don't know the optical details but I suspect that this light allows the toothpick (or eyelash) to cast its shadow on our retina since the incident light is already set to project there.
 

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