Night Vision

What are the effects when you alter the color of a night vision goggle?

By: Reed Carter

Reed Carter Wednesday, April 28, 2010 1:52:57 PM MT

 Table of contents
1.  What are night vision goggles and
where and what are they used for?

2.  How do night vision goggles help you?

3.  What is thermal imaging?

4.  History of night vision goggle

5.  What is Tapetum lucidum?

6.  Hypothesis

7.  What are the effects when you alter

the color of a night vision goggle?

8.  Conclusion

Reed Carter Wednesday, April 28, 2010 1:52:57 PM MT

 What are night vision goggles and where and what
are they used for?
Night vision devices such as a night vision goggle are optical instruments
that allow images to be produced in levels of light approaching total
darkness. They are most often used by the military and law enforcement
agencies, but are available to civilian users too. The arm generally uses
night vision goggles to do night patrols and missions to help them have an
advantage of seeing the enemy before they see them. The term night vision
device or NVD usually refers to a complete unit, including an image
intensifier tube, a protective and generally water-resistant housing, and
some type of mounting system. Many NVD’s also include sacrificial lenses,
IR illuminators, and telescopic lenses.
Reed Carter Wednesday, April 28, 2010 1:52:57 PM MT
 How do night vision goggles help you?
Night vision goggles use one of two methods to enhance
your sight in the dark. Image enhancement concentrates
particles of light too small or to low in the color spectrum
for a human to pick up on. One of the benefits to image
enhancement is that it allows easy identification of a
target, which thermal imaging may not.

Reed Carter Wednesday, April 28, 2010 1:52:57 PM MT

 What is thermal imaging?
  Thermal imaging, also called thermography or thermal
video, is the process by which humans may see in the
infrared portion of the spectrum. Since every object
gives off some amount of thermal radiation, thermal
imaging takes that heat and then shows it on a screen.
Thermal imaging is ideal for observing conditions of
extreme darkness or when obscured by smoke, fog, rain,
or snow. Also Thermal imaging is able to capture the
heat of an object, which appears as bright colors, the
warmer it is.

Reed Carter Wednesday, April 28, 2010 1:52:57 PM MT

 History of night
vision goggles
The first night vision goggles
were invented by the United
States Army for use in World War
II and the Korean War. The Nazi
forces invented a similar
technology, but it was used
mainly used for tanks and snipers
for an accessory. Later versions
of the goggles eliminated the
need for an infrared illumination
source, able to use ambient light
instead. The current generation
of army-issue goggles is highly
advanced, able to magnify light
30,000-50,000 times.\

Reed Carter Wednesday, April 28, 2010 1:52:57 PM MT

 What is tapetum lucidum?
Tapetum lucidum is a layer of tissue in
the eye of many vertebrate animals, this
usually lies behind or sometimes within
the retina. It reflects visible light back
through the retina, increasing the light
available to the photoreceptors. This
improves vision in low-light conditions,
but can cause the perceived image to be
blurry from the interference of the
reflected light.

Reed Carter Wednesday, April 28, 2010 1:52:57 PM MT

 Hypothesis:
What are the effects when you alter the color of a night vision

goggle?

I believe that no you can’t alter the color of the night vision
goggles because I think that the color of the lenses has a special
element in it that makes it green. This element probably takes
in the little light left in the dark area and shows it in the lens in
green.

Reed Carter Wednesday, April 28, 2010 1:52:57 PM MT

 What are the effects when you
alter the color of a night vision
goggle?

Night vision goggles is a image

enhancement technology which takes an
image and passes it through the lenses of
the night vision goggles. Then the image
is sent to a screen coated in phosphors,
witch glows when activated by electrons.
Phosphors are transition metal
compounds or rare earth compounds of
various types. The most common uses of
phosphors are in CRT displays and
fluorescent lights. These phosphors are
intentionally tinted green, as the human
eye can identify and differentiate
between green shades better than any
other color.

Reed Carter Wednesday, April 28, 2010 1:52:57 PM MT

 Conclusion
So I believe you can change the color of the night vision goggle
but you won’t be able to see and identify the different shadows
looking through the night vision goggles as well as the green
tint. Because people have such poor night vision they need the
green tint to make it easier to identify the shadows at night.
Also people have poor tapetum lucidum making it harder for us
to see in the dark but for many animals they have more tapetum
lucidum making it easier for animals to see in the dark.

Reed Carter Wednesday, April 28, 2010 1:52:57 PM MT

 The END

Reed Carter Wednesday, April 28, 2010 1:52:57 PM MT