I
think it’s safe to say that sunglasses made by Ray Ban (my personal
favorite makers of fine and stylish eyewear) are popular in America. To
say the same about their status in Italy, however, would be a huge
understatement. It seems like here, everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) has a
pair of aviators or wayfarers, all brandished with the signature Ray
Ban logo. After checking out the Ray Ban site and looking at their
history section, I learned that Ray Ban invented anti-glare technology
and polarization in order to help pilots see more easily while flying.
Curious, I looked into how these and other sunglass technologies work,
and I found that they involve a lot of Chem 260 topics we recently
covered!
So
light waves can be refracted into many directional planes after
emerging from its source, and, once it is refracted like that, it is
said to be polarized. We can see an example of natural polarization of
light every time we look at a body of water; light hits the water, and
it is refracted off, usually in a horizontal orientation. Polarized
sunglasses have a special filter sprayed on to them composed of
molecules that line up with each other in such a way that uniform
“slits” are created in a particular orientation. Light can only pass
through this filter if it is aligned in the same direction of the slits.
Since naturally polarized light usually is horizontally refracted, most
polarized lenses usually feature vertical slits, which block out all of
the horizontally refracted light, allowing us to see without the glare
of a lake’s surface, for example.
The
color of the lens, of course, is also involved in selective light
blocking. White light, the kind of light the sun emits, is a combination
of all colors of light, so blocking out some colors using different
colored tints will yield a clearer view for us. As we learned in Chem
260, the colors of objects we see is the color of light not absorbed by
the object, and this is a pretty solid application of that knowledge.
Grey lenses reduce overall brightness and glare. Yellow and gold lenses
absorb blue light but let other colors through. Blue light tends to
bounce off of a lot of different surfaces, so blocking it and only it
out yields a clearer overall view without too much darkening. Amber and
brown lenses are like the more intense versions of yellow and gold
lenses; they also block out blue light, but they also absorb harmful UV
rays. Green lenses filter out some blue light and reduce glare, but they
also increase contrast, allowing green lens wearers to see more
clearly. Purple and rose lenses increase contrast of objects against
blue or green backgrounds, making them popular choices for hunters.
While
writing this, I might have gotten distracted multiple times by the Ray
Ban website...even though I already have a pair, I think I just might
have to get another when I get back home! Good thing my birthday is
coming up soon...
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