DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL:: SURAT

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS: STUDY MATERIAL

LIGHT – REFRACTION
CLASS: X

Refraction of light is the phenomenon of change in the path of light in going from one
transparent medium to another.
A transparent substance in which light can travel is called an optical medium. Different optical
media have different optical densities. Therefore, speed of light in different optical media is
different. A medium in which speed of light is more is said to be optically rarer medium and a
medium in which speed of light is less is said to be optically denser medium.

Cause of refraction:
The basic cause of refraction is the change in the speed of light in going from one medium to the
other.

Laws of refraction:
1. Whenever light goes from one medium to another, the frequency of light does not change.
However, the velocity of light and the wavelength of light (i.e. colour of light) change.
2. The incident ray, the refracted ray and normal to the interface of two media at the point of
incidence, all lie in the same plane.
3. The ratio of sine of angle of incidence to the sine of angle of refraction is constant for the pair
of media in contact. This constant represents refractive index of second medium with respect to
first medium. This relationship was discovered by Snell and is called Snell’s law.

Refractive index:
Absolute refractive index of a medium is defined as the ratio of speed of light in vacuum to the
speed of light in the medium.
speed of light in vacuum
n=
speed of light in medium

1
When light passes from one medium 1 to another medium 2, the refractive index of medium 2
with respect to medium 1 is written as (1n2) and is called relative refractive index.

speed of light in vacuum

1 speed of light in medium2 speed of light in medium 1
n2 = speed of light in vacuum =
speed of light in medium 2
speed of light in medium1
Note: Refractive index is a characteristic property of the medium, whose value depends only on
nature of material of the medium and the colour or wavelength of light. Refractive index have no
units.
1
n2=1/ 2n1
n v
n21= 2 = 1
n1 v2

Direction of bending of light:

Case-1: When light travels from a rarer to a denser medium, it bends towards the normal at the
interface of two media.

Case-2: When light travels from a denser to a rarer medium, it bends away from normal to the
interface of two media.

2
Conditions for no refraction:

1. When light is incident normally on a boundary.

2. When the refractive indices of two media are equal.

Refraction through glass slab:

On passing through a rectangular glass slab, a ray of

light suffers two refractions, one while going from air to
glass and the other while going from glass to air. Light
emerges from rectangular glass slab in a direction
parallel to that in which it entered the glass slab.
However, the final emergent ray is slightly shifted
sideways from the direction of original incident ray
by a distance called lateral shift.
The perpendicular distance between the original path of
incident ray and the emergent ray coming out of the
glass slab is called lateral displacement of the emergent
ray of light.
Lateral displacement depends mainly on three factors:
angle of incidence, thickness of glass slab and refractive
index of glass slab. Higher the values of these factors, greater will be the lateral displacement.

Note:
On the basis of refraction of light, the following can be explained:
i) a coin placed at the bottom of a container, appears to be raised, when the container is filled
slowly with water. We can show that

a real depth 4
nw = apparent depth = 3

ii) a glass slab appears to be less thick than it actually is. This is because bottom of glass slab
appears to be raised.
iii) An ink dot marked on a paper appears to be raised, when viewed through a glass slab.

3
Spherical lenses:
A lens is any transparent material (e.g. Glass) of an appropriate shape that can take parallel rays
of incident light and either converge the rays to a point or diverge the rays from a point.
A transparent material bound by two surfaces, of which one or both surfaces are spherical, forms
a lens.
Some lenses will focus light rays to a single point. These lenses are called converging or convex
lenses. Other lenses spread out the light rays so that it looks like they all come from the same
point. These lenses are called diverging or concave
lenses. Lenses change the direction of light rays by
refraction. Lenses are used in eye glasses, cameras,
microscopes and telescopes.
Convex lens:
A lens may have two spherical surfaces, bulging
outwards. Such a lens is called a double convex lens. It
is thicker at the middle as compared to the edges.
Convex lens converges light rays. Hence it is called
converging lens.

Concave lens:
A double concave lens is bounded by two spherical
surfaces, curved inwards. It is thicker at the edges than
at the middle. Such lenses diverge light rays and are
called diverging lenses.

Rules for obtaining images formed by spherical lenses:

1. A ray of light from the object, parallel to the principal axis, after refraction from a convex
lens, passes through the principal focus on the other side of the lens, as shown in figure. In case
of a concave lens, the ray appears to diverge from the principal focus located on the same side of
the lens, as shown in the figure.

4
2. A ray of light passing through a principal focus, after refraction from a convex lens will
emerge parallel to the principal axis. This is shown in figure. A ray of light appearing to meet at
the principal focus of a concave lens, after refraction will emerge parallel to the principal axis as
shown in figure.

3. A ray of light passing through the optical centre of a lens will emerge without any deviation.

Formation of different types of images by a convex lens:

Case 1: When object is at infinity.
Image formed is: i) at focus (F2)
ii) real and inverted
iii) highly diminished

Case 2: When object is between infinity and 2F1.

Image formed is: i) between F2 and 2F2
ii) real and inverted
iii) diminished

5
Case 3: When object is at 2F1.
Image formed is: i) at 2F2
ii) real and inverted
iii) same size

Case 4: When object is between 2F1 and F1.

Image formed is: i) beyond 2F2
ii) real and inverted
iii) enlarged

Case 5: When object is at F1.

Image formed is: i) infinity
ii) real and inverted
iii) highly enlarged

6
Case 6: When object is between F1 and O.
Image formed is: i) in front of lens where object is kept
ii) virtual and erect
iii) magnified

Formation of different types of images by a concave lens:

Case 1: When object is at infinity.
Image formed is: i) at the focus F1
ii) virtual and erect
iii) highly diminished

7
Case 2: When object is between infinity and optical centre (O).
Image formed is: i) between O and focus F1
ii) virtual and erect
iii) diminished

Sign convention for spherical lenses:

1. Object is always placed to the left of lens.

2. All distances are measured from the optical centre of the lens.
3. Distances measured in the direction of the incident ray are positive and the distances measured
in the direction opposite to that of the incident rays are negative.
4. Distances (heights) measured above the principal axis are positive and that measured below
the principal axis are negative.

Lens formula:
Lens formula gives the relationship between object distance (u) and image distance (v) and the
focal length (f). The lens formula is expressed as
1 1 1
− =
v u f
Magnification of lens:
The magnification produced by lens is defined as the ratio of the height of the image to the
height of the object.
height of image h′ v
m= = =
height of object h u

8
Power of lens:
It is the reciprocal of its focal length. It is represented by the letter P.
1
P=
f
The S.I unit of power of a lens is dioptre. It is denoted by the letter D.
1 dioptre is the power of a lens whose focal length is 1 metre. 1D = 1m-1.

The power of a convex lens is positive and that of a concave lens is negative.
Many optical instruments consist of a number of lenses. They are combined to increase the
magnification and sharpness of the image. The net power (P) of the lenses placed in contact is
given by its algebraic sum of the individual powers P1, P2, P3……. As P = P1 + P2 + P3+……..

NUMERICALS BASED ON CONCAVE AND CONVEX LENS:

1. A concave lens has a focal length of 50 cm. calculate its power.

2. Find the focal length and nature of lens which should be placed in contact with a lens of
focal length 10 cm so that the power of the combination becomes 5 dioptre.
3. The power of lens is 2.5 D. What is its focal length?
4. A convex lens of focal length 40 cm is placed in contact with a concave lens of focal
length 25 cm. What is the power of combination?
5. Calculate the distance at which an object should be placed in front of a thin convex lens
of focal length 10 cm to obtain a virtual image of double its size.
6. A concave lens has focal length of 20 cm. At what distance from the lens a 5 cm tall
object be placed so that it forms an image at 15 cm from the lens? Also, calculate the size
of the image formed.
7. An object 3 cm high is placed perpendicular to the principal axis of a concave lens of
focal length 7.5 cm. the image is formed at a distance of 5 cm from the lens. Calculate (i)
distance at which object

*****************************************************************