Theoretical investigation of colored lenses for snow goggles.

Abstract

Safe driving or skiing in the “arctic whiteout” depends frequently upon the early detection of crevasses, fissures, ditches, or other sudden changes of elevation in the snow field. It has been believed that there might exist a certain colored glass for snow goggles which would provide a better perception of dangerous spots in snow. However, no definite answer was available as to what color the lenses ought to be.The purpose of this paper is to investigate this problem from the theoretical point of view. It is found that compared with an essentially neutral glass none of the colored glasses ordinarily used in snow goggles improves the ability of the eye to detect sudden changes of elevation in a snow field. Even red glasses of extreme purity—which according to the present theory would be expected to give a maximum of improvement, are not significantly more effective than neutral glasses.