SAMPLE : Marine History
 

Title: A light bulb never looked so lovely!

Topic: lenses and photometry

Background: Centuries before the courageous, isolated attempts by Vikings at trans-ocean exploration, the coastlines of Western Europe were alive with ships of all sizes and descriptions. Throughout the ages, safe navigation has remained a key concern of mariners.

Process: Go to the following web sites and use the information there to answer the following questions.

Questions:

1. Use the information at: http://www.groton.k12.ct.us/WWW/cb/turnon.html and the links below to
    create an original 300 word summary of lighthouses. Mention: one ancient, one 17 Cth and one
    modern lighthouse, their locations, construction materials, sizes, sources of illumination, lens makers,
    and types of lenses.
2. Lighthouses are generally located in what types of areas?
3. Go to: http://www.west.net/~pamass/htmfiles/freslens.htm
    a) There are how many categories of fresnel lighthouse lenses?
    b) Which type is the most spectacular?
    c) Why?
    d) What are the purposes of a lighthouse lens?
    e) Provide descriptions of its focusing power.
    f) How does the lens increase the effective brightness of the lamp?
    g) The fresnel lens belongs to which of the two general types of lenses?
4. a) Lighthouse lenses can be appreciated as striking, imaginative glass sculptures. Please go to the
        following URL's and collect the indicated images.
        i) http://members.aol.com/fairyfellr/lantern.html; print: St. George Reef, view 1, Battery Point
           and Cape Blanco.
        ii) http://nw3.nai.net/~cdd/lens.htm; print: the lens from the Stonnington Lighthouse Museum
     b) Arrange the images in increasing order. Title each image.
5. If a lens gives a lamp an effective luminous intensity of 30 000 cd, at what distance would it give an
    illumination of 4 000 lux?
6. Find the luminous intensity of a lamp - lens that gives an illumination of 1 500 lux at a distance of 7 km.
7. Find the illumination from a 12 000 cd lamp - lens at a distance of 10 km.
8. A ship located between two lighthouses receives equal illumination from both. If it is 5.6 km from an
    8 000 cd lighthouse to port (on its left) and the lighthouse to starboard (on its right) is 8.2 km away,
    find the luminous intensity of the starboard lighthouse.
9. A ship sailing between two lighthouses receives equal illumination from both. If the port 7 500 cd
    lighthouse it is 2.4 km away, what is the distance to the starboard 6 000 cd lighthouse?
10. A ship sailing between two lighthouses receives equal illumination from both. If the port 9 500 cd
      lighthouse and the starboard 5 900 cd lighthouses are located on headlands 2.7 km apart, where
      is the ship?
11. A ship sailing between two lighthouses receives three times the illumination from the port 4 800 cd
      lighthouse 1.3 km away as it does from the starboard 3 700 cd lighthouse. What is the distance to
      the starboard lighthouse?
12. What is the future of lighthouses?