Physics Question: Are Eyeglasses Mechanical?

amar · Post by **amar** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 9:17 am

someone please hand me a fig-newton.

Tyler · Post by **Tyler** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 9:18 am

good heck, lets be done with it!

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 9:26 am

I'm with Gollum on this one. If you throw a ball at a wall, the ball will bounce off of the wall.
The collision has caused a change in the ball's vector. Is the wall a machine? Lord, no. It is
a passive obstruction. A lens is just a passive obstruction... the light will experience
friction from the crystalline structure of the glass, thus shifting its direction. I mean, good grief,
if you roll a ball along the floor and the friction causes the ball to eventually stop, is the floor
a machine?

jbarter · Post by **jbarter** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 9:30 am

AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGHH!

jbarter · Post by **jbarter** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 9:30 am

Is a screaming human a machine?

Tyler · Post by **Tyler** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 9:31 am

fearfaoin wrote: A lens is just a passive obstruction...

I wish someone would passivly obstruct this thread...

amar · Post by **amar** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 9:33 am

jbarter wrote:Is a screaming human a machine?

well, your larynx i guess could be part of a machine, of course your diaphram would be part of it...

amar · Post by **amar** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 9:36 am

here. even heads can be machines!

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 9:36 am

Tyler Morris wrote:I wish someone would passivly obstruct this thread...

You could always construct a filter:

if (thread_title == "Physics Question: Are Eyeglasses Mechanical?")
then Dont_bloody_click_on_it();

Tyler · Post by **Tyler** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 9:38 am

fearfaoin wrote:
Tyler Morris wrote:I wish someone would passivly obstruct this thread...
You could always construct a filter:

if (thread_title == "Physics Question: Are Eyeglasses Mechanical?")
then Dont_bloody_click_on_it();

it's just so much fun to see you piddle back and forth though.

Tyler · Post by **Tyler** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 9:44 am

fearfaoin wrote:
Tyler Morris wrote:I wish someone would passivly obstruct this thread...
You could always construct a filter:

if (thread_title == "Physics Question: Are Eyeglasses Mechanical?")
then Dont_bloody_click_on_it();

you're so mean!

I.D.10-t · Post by **I.D.10-t** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 9:53 am

Sorry I was using thistype of definition for my original opinion.

I could see how a prism could act like a pulley in changing the direction of the energy.

Expanding the definition though (and your original Idea) how about a light bulb? Changes electricity to light. In addition, magnets are often used to move electricity, but magnetism is also a force that can be induced by electricity, so that seems more like a different form of energy I guess.

jsluder · Post by **jsluder** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 10:06 am

This entire thread is just one big optical allusion...

missy · Post by **missy** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 10:16 am

ok - thinking a little seriously here.......

With the light bulb ID mentions, you are changing electrical energy into light and heat (at least with an incadescent bulb).

With lenses for near or far sighted-ness, you aren't "changing" the energy, you are just refocusing it to a different point in space (or your eyeball).
Now - I suppose if you had lenses that were of extremely high magnification, and you were to stand there looking at the sun, you could say you were changing the energy (light) into something (heat).
Sunglasses, on the other hand, still aren't "changing" the light, they are just filtering out certain wavelengths and allowing others to pass through.

So - I guess with all that, I'm voting for tool......... what was the question?

Jeff Stallard · Post by **Jeff Stallard** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 10:36 am

missy wrote:With lenses for near or far sighted-ness, you aren't "changing" the energy, you are just refocusing it to a different point in space (or your eyeball).

True, but the definition talks about modifying the energy, not changing it. A pulley doesn't change energy, it just modifies it.

Is a microscope a machine? What about a telescope? If you accept those as machines, then you must also accept eyeglasses.

Thanks for the interesting conversation. You've definitely modified my thinking on this.