A stroboscope is a device with which you can reproduce repetitive bright light pulses at high speed. It is used at parties, discos and concerts. The principle of operation of this device is based on the stroboscopic effect.
Strobe principle
The word "stroboscope" itself is derived from two Greek words: "strobos" and "skopeo". In literal translation, the name of this device means "observation of the spinning".
The earliest strobe lights were primitive and consisted of a light source with two opaque disks placed in front of it. One was motionless, the other was spinning. Both discs had slots. When they were aligned, the object examined with the stroboscope was illuminated.
Modern stroboscopes use gas-discharge flash lamps, pulsed lasers and super-bright LEDs.
Stroboscopic effect and its danger
The stroboscopic effect is the appearance of a visual illusion of the immobility of an object or its imaginary movement during its intermittent visual observation.
This effect arises due to the inertia of human vision, when the movement of an object is observed not continuously, but in separate fragments. An example is a movie. When viewed, static images change so quickly that the eye does not have time to follow their change, and there is an impression of constant movement of the image.
The principle of the stroboscopic effect is used to measure the speed in some tachometers, and also a system for adjusting the speed of rotation of the disk for playing vinyl records was built on it.
However, despite its usefulness, the stroboscopic effect can be very dangerous. All this is connected with the same inertness of human vision. You need to be especially careful in production in the conditions of machine-building shops.
With an unfavorable combination of circumstances and the use of gas-discharge lamps in the shops, the illusion is possible that the rapidly rotating parts of the machine seem to be absolutely motionless. This can cause death or injury to the worker.
In addition, even if the situation does not pose a danger to life, the pulsation of the luminous flux of the lamps affects the efficiency of visual work and causes increased fatigue of the organ of vision.
To reduce these ripples, it is necessary to include fluorescent lamps in different phases of the network. With this connection, the amplitude of the flicker decreases, and the likelihood of a stroboscopic effect becomes negligible.
To completely prevent its occurrence, lighting can be produced with standard incandescent lamps.
