Canada Balsam - Uses

Uses

Due to its high optical quality and the similarity of its refractive index to that of crown glass (n = 1.55), purified and filtered Canada balsam was traditionally used in optics as an invisible-when-dry glue for glass, such as lens elements. Lenses glued with Canada balsam (or with other similar glues) are called cemented lenses. Also, other optical elements can be cemented with Canada balsam, such as two prisms bonded to form a beam splitter. Balsam was phased out as an optical adhesive during World War II, in favour of polyester, epoxy, and urethane-based adhesives. In modern optical manufacturing, UV-cured epoxies are often used to bond lens elements.

Canada balsam was also commonly used for making permanent microscope slides. In biology, for example, it can be used to conserve microscopic samples by sandwiching the sample between a microscope slide and a glass coverslip, using Canada balsam to glue the arrangement together and enclose the sample to conserve it. Xylene balsam, Canada balsam dissolved in xylene, is also used for preparing slide mounts. Some workers prefer terpene resin for slide mounts as it is both less acidic and cheaper than balsam. Synthetic resins have largely replaced organic balsams for such applications.

Another important application of Canada Balsam is in the construction of the Nicol prism. A Nicol prism consists of a Calcite crystal which has been cut into two halves. Canada Balsam is placed between the two layers. Calcite is an anisotropic crystal and has different refractive indices for rays polarized along directions parallel and perpendicular to its optic axis. These rays with differing refractive indices are known as the Ordinary and extraordinary rays. The refractive index for Canada Balsam is in between the refractive index for the ordinary and extraordinary rays. Hence the ordinary ray will be totally internally reflected. The emergent ray will be plane polarized and traditionally this has been one of the popular ways of producing polarized light.

Some other uses (traditional and current) include:

• in geology, it is used as a common thin section cement and glue, and is used for refractive index studies and tests, such as the Becke line test.
• to fix scratches in glass (car glass for instance) as invisibly as possible.
• in oil painting, to achieve glow and facilitate fusion.
• in Buckley's cough syrup.