HARVEST INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

Worksheet
9. Ray optics
1. A small candle, 2.5 cm in size is placed at 27 cm in front of a concave mirror of radius
of curvature 36 cm. At what distance from the mirror should a screen be placed in
order to obtain a sharp image? Describe the nature and size of the image. If the
candle is moved closer to the mirror, how would the screen have to be moved?

2. A 4.5 cm needle is placed 12 cm away from a convex mirror of focal length 15 cm.
Give the location of the image and the magnification. Describe what happens as the
needle is moved farther from the mirror.

3. Figures (a) and (b) show refraction of a ray in air incident at 60° with the normal to a
glass- air and water-air interface, respectively. Predict the angle of refraction in glass
when the angle of incidence in water is 45° with the normal to a water-glass interface
(figure c).

4. A small bulb is placed at the bottom of a tank containing water to a depth of 80 cm.
What is the area of the surface of water through which light from the bulb can emerge
out? Refractive index of water is 1.33. (Consider the bulb to be a point source)

5. A prism is made of glass of unknown refractive index. A parallel beam of light is

incident on a face of the prism. The angle of minimum deviation is measured to be
40°. What is the refractive index of the material of the prism? The refracting angle of
the prism is 60°. If the prism is placed in water (refractive index 1.33), predict the new
angle of minimum deviation of a parallel beam of light.

6. Double-convex lenses are to be manufactured from a glass of refractive index 1.55,

with both faces of the same radius of curvature. What is the radius of curvature
required if the focal length is to be 20 cm?

7. A beam of light converges at a point P. Now a lens is placed in the path of the
convergent beam 12 cm from P. At what point does the beam converge if the lens is
(a) a convex lens of focal length 20 cm, and
(b) a concave lens of focal length 16 cm?

8. An object of size 3.0 cm is placed 14 cm in front of a concave lens of focal length 21

cm. Describe the image produced by the lens. What happens if the object is moved
further away from the lens?

9. What is the focal length of a convex lens of focal length 30 cm in contact with a
concave lens of focal length 20 cm? Is the system a converging or a diverging lens?
Ignore thickness of the lenses.

10. A compound microscope consists of an objective lens of focal length 2.0 cm and an
 eyepiece of focal length 6.25 cm separated by a distance of 15 cm. How far from the
objective should an object be placed in order to obtain the final image at (a) the least
distance of distinct vision (25 cm), and (b) at infinity? What is the magnifying power of
the microscope in each case?

11. A person with a normal near point (25 cm) using a compound microscope with
objective of focal length 8.0 mm and an eyepiece of focal length 2.5 cm can bring an
object placed at 9.0 mm from the objective in sharp focus. What is the separation
between the two lenses? Calculate the magnifying power of the microscope.

12. A small telescope has an objective lens of focal length 144 cm and an eyepiece of
focal length 6.0 cm. What is the magnifying power of the telescope? What is the
separation between the objective and the eyepiece?

13. (a) A giant refracting telescope at an observatory has an objective lens of focal length
15 m. If an eyepiece of focal length 1.0 cm is used, what is the angular magnification
of the telescope?
(b) If this telescope is used to view the moon, what is the diameter of the image of the
moon formed by the objective lens? The diameter of the moon is 3.48 × 106 m and the
radius of lunar orbit is 3.8 × 108 sm.

14. Use the mirror equation to deduce that:

(a) An object placed between f and 2f of a concave mirror produces a real image
beyond 2 f.
(b) A convex mirror always produces a virtual image independent of the location of
the object.
(c) The virtual image produced by a convex mirror is always diminished in size and is
located Between the focus and the pole.
(d) An object placed between the pole and focus of a concave mirror produces a
virtual and enlarged image.

15. A small pin fixed on a table top is viewed from above from a distance of 50 cm. By
what distance would the pin appear to be raised if it is viewed from the same point
through a 15 cm thick glass slab held parallel to the table? Refractive index of glass =
1.5. Does the answer depend on the location of the slab?

16. (a) Figure shows a cross-section of’light pipe’ made of a glass fiber of refractive index
1.68. The outer covering of the pipe is made of a material of refractive index 1.44.
What is the range of the angles of the incident rays with the axis of the pipe for which
total reflections inside the pipe take place, as shown in the figure.
(b) What is the answer if there is no outer covering of the pipe?

17. Answer the following questions:

(a) You have learnt that plane and convex mirrors produce virtual images of objects.
Can they produce real images under some circumstances? Explain.
(b) A virtual image, we always say, cannot be caught on a screen. Yet when we’see’a
 virtual image, we are obviously bringing it on to the ‘screen’ (i.e., the retina) of our
eye. Is there a contradiction?
(c) A diver under water, looks obliquely at a fisherman standing on the bank of a lake.
(d) Does the apparent depth of a tank of water change if viewed obliquely? if so, does
the apparent depth increase of decrease?
(e) The refractive index of diamond is much greater than that of ordinary glass. is this
fact of some use to a diamond cutter?

18. The image of a small electric bulb fixed on the wall of a room is to be obtained on the
opposite wall 3 m away by means of a large convex lens. What is the maximum
possible focal length of the lens required for the purpose?

19. A screen is placed 90 cm from an object. The image of the object on the screen is
formed by a convex lens at two different locations separated by 20 cm. Determine the
focal length of the lens.

20. (a) Determine the ‘effective focal length of the combination of two lenses in question
10, if they are placed 8.0 cm apart with their principal axes coincident. Does the
answer depend on which side of the combination a beam of parallel light is incident?
Is the notion of effective focal length of this system useful at all?
(b) An object 1.5 cm in size is placed on the side of the convex lens in the above
arrangement. The distance between the object and the convex lens is 40 cm.
Determine the magnification produced by the two-lens system, and the size of the
image.

21. At what angle should a ray of light be incident on the face of a prism of refracting
angle 60° so that it just suffers total internal reflection at the other face? The refractive
index of the material of the prism is 1.524.

22. You are given prisms made of crown glass and flint glass with a wide variety of
angles. Suggest a combination of prisms which will
(a) deviate a pencil of white light without much dispersion.
(b) disperse (and displace) a pencil of white light without much deviation.

23. A card sheet divided into squares each of size 1 mm2 is being viewed at a distance of
9 cm through a magnifying glass (a converging lens of focal length 10 cm) held close
to the eye.
(a) What is the magnification produced by the lens? How much is the area of each
square in the virtual image?
(b) What is the angular magnification (magnifying power) of the lens?
(c) Is the magnification in (a) equal to the magnifying power in (b)? Explain.

24. (a) At what distance should the lens be held from the figure in previous question in
order to view the squares distinctly with the maximum possible magnifying power?
(b) What is the magnification in this case?
(c) Is the magnification equal to the magnifying power in this case? Explain.

25. What should be the distance between the object in previous question and the
magnifying glass if the virtual image of each square in the figure is to have an area of
6.25 mm2. Would you be able to see the squares distinctly with your eyes very close
to the magnifier?
26. Answer the following question:
(a) The angle subtended at the eye by an object is equal to the angle subtended at
the eye by the virtual image produced by a magnifying glass. In what sense then does
a magnifying glass provide angular magnification?
(b) In viewing through a magnifying glass, one usually positions one’s eyes very close
to the lens. Does angular magnification change if the eye is moved back?
(c) Magnifying power of a simple microscope is inversely proportional to the focal
length of the lens. What then stops us from using a convex lens of smaller and
smaller focal length and achieving greater and greater magnifying power?
(d) Why must both the objective and the eyepiece of a compound microscope have
short focal lengths?
(e) When viewing through a compound microscope, our eyes should be positioned
not on the eyepiece but a short distance away from it for best viewing. Why? How
much should be that short distance between the eye and eyepiece?

27. An angular magnification (magnifying power) of 30 X is desired using an objective of

focal length 1.25 cm and an eyepiece of focal length 5 cm. How will you set up the
compound microscope?

28. A small telescope has an objective lens of focal length 140 cm and an eyepiece of
focal length 5.0 cm. What is the magnifying power of the telescope for viewing distant
objects when:
(a) the telescope is in normal adjustment (i.e., when the final image is at infinity)?
(b) the final image is formed at the least distance of distinct vision (25 cm)?

29. (a) For the telescope described in previous question 34 (a), what is the separation
between the objective and the eyepiece?
(b) If this telescope is used to view a 100 m tall tower 3 km away. What is the height
of the image of the tower formed by the objective lens?
(c) What is the height of the final image of the tower if it is formed at 25 cm?

30. A Cassegrain telescope uses two mirrors as shown in figure. Such a telescope is built
with the mirrors 20 mm apart. If the radius of curvature of the large mirror is 220 mm
and the small mirror is 140 mm, where will the final image of an object at infinity be?

31. Light incident normally on a plane mirror attached to a galvanometer coil retraces
backwards as shown in figure. A current in the coil produces a deflection of 3.5° of the
mirror. What is the displacement of the reflected spot of light on a screen placed 1.5
m away?
32. Figure shows an equiconvex lens (of refractive index 1.50) in contact with a liquid
layer on top of a plane mirror. A small needle with its tip on the principal axis is moved
along the axis until its inverted image is found at the position of the needle. The
distance of the needle from the lens is measured to be 45.0 cm. The liquid is removed
and the experiment is repeated. The new distance is measured to be 30.0 cm. What
is the refractive index of the liquid?