CHAPTER NO.

12
GEOMETRICAL OPTICS
Q1: Choose the correct answer.
i. C ii. B iii. B iv. C v. B
vi. D vii. B viii. A ix. B x. B
Review Questions
12.1 What do you understand reflection of light? Illustrate with help of a diagram.
Ans: Bouncing back of light is called reflection.

12.2 Describe the following terms

Ans: 1. Normal:- An imaginary line drawn perpendicular on a surface which separates
the angle of incidence and angle of reflection
2. Angle of incidence: - The angle which incident ray makes with normal is called angle
of incidence.
3. Angle of reflection:- The angle which reflected ray makes with the normal is called
angle of reflection.
12.3 State laws of reflection. Describe them graphically.
Ans: i. The incident ray, reflected ray and the normal at the point of incidence all lie in
the same plane
ii. Angle of incidence should be equal to the angle of reflection

12.4 Define refraction of light. Describe this phenomenon through parallel

transparent material.
Ans: When light rays passes into another medium, it deviates from its path.
A ray of light OI travelling from air falls on the glass slab. At the air-glass interface, light
changes its direction and bend towards normal
12.5 Define the following terms
Ans: 1. Angle of incidence: The angle which incident ray makes with normal
2. Angle of refraction: The angle which refracted ray makes with normal
12.6 What is meant by refractive index of material? How would you determine the
refractive index of a rectangular glass slab?
Ans: The refractive index of a medium is the ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum to the
speed of light in the medium.
speed of light ∈vacuum
Refractive index =
speed of light ∈medium
If refractive index is denoted by n, speed of light in vacuum by c and speed of light in the
medium by v, then.
c
n=
v
12.7 State laws of refraction and verify with the help of glass slab.
Ans: Rule-1: When a light ray travels from a rarer medium to a denser medium, the light
ray bends towards the normal.

Rule-2 : When a light ray travels from a denser medium to a rarer medium, the light ray
bends away from the normal.

Consider a glass slab. Trace the ray of light with the help of pins on paper ,it shows that
after passing into another medium it deviates from its path

12.8 What is meant by total internal reflection?

Ans: Total internal reflection:
“When a ray of light from a denser medium enters a rare medium in such a way
that angle of incidence is greater than critical angle, then the ray is reflected totally inside
and does not emerge out from the denser medium. This phenomenon is called total
internal reflection.

12.9 State conditions for total internal reflection.

Ans: i. The ray of light travels from denser to the rare medium
ii. The angle of incidence should be greater than critical angle
12.10 What is critical angle? Derive a relation b\w critical angle and refractive index
of a substance.
Ans: The angle of incidence above which total internal reflection occurs
n= Sin<i/Sin<r
=Sin90/Sin<C
= 1/Sin<C
12.11 What are optical fibers? Describe how total internal reflection is used in
optical fibers.
Ans: It consists of hair size thread of glass or plastic through light can travel. The inner
part of optical fiber is made up of higher refractive index material as compared to the
outer one. When a ray of light enters at an angle greater than critical angle it is totally
reflected into the same medium.
12.12 Define the terms
Ans: i. Principal axis:- The line passing through the two centers of curvature of the lens
is called principal axis
ii. Optical center:-A point on principal axis at the center of lens is called optical center
iii. Focal length:- the half of the distance b/w pole and center of curvature
12.13 What is meant by the term principal focus of a a) convex lens b) concave lens.
Illustrate your answer with ray diagram.
Ans: a) A point in front lens on which rays of light after passing through lens converges.

b) A point behind the lens on which the rays of light after passing through the lens
appears to be converge.

12.14: Describe how light is refracted through convex lens.

Ans: When a beam of light passes through lens it converges at a single point infront of
the lens. That point is known as principal focus.
12.15: With the help of ray diagram , show how you can use thin lens as a
magnifying glass.

12.16: A coin is placed at a focal point of a converging lens. Is any image formed?
What is the nature of this image?
Ans: No image is formed as rays will never meet each other.

12.17: Differentiate b/w real and virtual images.

Ans: Real image: An image which is formed by the actual intersection of rays. e.g image
formed by convex lens or concave mirror. This kind of image is inverted
Virtual image: An image which is formed by the intersection of extended rays. e.g image
formed by concave lens or convex mirror. This image is erect
12.18: How does a converging lens form a virtual image? How diverging lens form a
real image?
Ans: a) If object is placed within the focal length of lens, the image thus formed is virtual
b) It is not possible to obtain a real image from diverging lens
12.19: Define power of a lens and its unit.
Ans: “It is equal to the reciprocal of the focal length of the device”
Mathematically, it can be written as:
P = 1/f
1 diopter is SI unit of the power of lens, whose focal length is 1 metre. It is denoted by
the letter D. Thus 1D = 1 m-1
12.20: Describe refraction through a glass prism.
Ans: Prism is a transparent body made up of glass with two polished plane faces inclined
towards each other from which light is refracted. In case of triangular prism, emergent
ray is not equal to incident ray It is deviated due to prism. The incident ray makes an
angle of incidence at a point E and is refracted towards the normal. As Sin<i/Sin<r = n ,
refracted ray makes an angle inside the prism and travels to the other end of the prism
and finally emerges out of the prism making an angle. It is deviated by an angle called
angle of deviation.

12.21: Define the terms.

a) Resolving power: Capacity of an instrument to resolve two points which are close
together
Magnifying power: It is the ratio or angular size of final image produced by magnifying
glass to the angular size of object seen without magnifying glass.
12.22: Draw the ray diagrams of
i. Simple microscope:

ii. Compound microscope:

iii. Telescope:
12.23: Mention the magnifying power of the following.
i. Simple microscope:
M = (d/f)+1
ii. Compound microscope:
M = l/fo ( 1+d/fe)
iii. Telescope:
M = fo/fe
12.24: Draw ray diagram for image formation in human eye.

12.25: What is near sightedness and far sightedness? How these defects are
corrected?
Ans: i. Myopia:- Some people cannot see distant object clearly without the aid of glasses
.This defect is called myopia. It may be due to elongation of eyeball. Light rays from a
distant object are focused in front of the retina and a blurred image is formed.
It is corrected with diverging lens. Light from distant object diverge by lens before
entering the eye. To observer these rays come from far point and are therefore focused on
the retina, thus a sharp image is formed.

ii. Hypermetropia:- A person suffering from hypermetropia cannot see near object.
When such person Tries to focus on a book held closer to eye , it shortens its focal length
as much as it can . However the focal length is longer than it should be. So the light rays
from a book would form a sharp image behind the retina.
This defect can be removed by using converging lens .The lens refract the light and they
converge to form an image on the retina. To an observer these rays appear to come from
near point to form a sharp virtual image on the retina.
 Conceptual Questions
12.1: A man raises his left hand in a plane mirror; the image is raising his right
hand. Why?
Ans: Light rays coming from hand reflected in mirror, causing us to see an inverted
image, therefore the image of the whole body inverted and the image of the left hand
appears as right hand. This is due to the regular reflection of light from a plane mirror.
12.2: In your own words explain why light waves are refracted at the boundary b/w
2 mediums?
Ans: This is due to the fact that when light changes its medium its speed changes. The
change in speed depends upon refractive index of the medium plus wave length of light.
12.3: Why a fish under water appears to be at different depth?
Ans: Light coming from the fish under water deviates from its original path due to
refraction phenomenon and its image displaced from its actual position. Due to virtual
image the apparent depth of the fish is different from the real depth. Hence the image of
the fish is appeared at the shallower depth than its actual depth.
12.4: Why or why not concave mirrors are suitable for makeup?
Ans: Suitable: If the object is placed between focus point and pole of the mirror then its
magnified and virtual image is formed. In this case, it is suitable for makeup.
Un suitable: If the object is placed behind the focus point then a blurred image is
obtained. So in this case it is not suitable for makeup.
12.5: Why the side mirror of the car is convex mirrors?
Ans: It is because convex mirrors give a broader, erect and diminished view of road.
12.6: When an optician room is small he uses a mirror to test eyesight of patients.
Why?
Ans; The patient's vision is supposed to be tested at a distance of 6 meters (20 feet in the
U.S.), but this distance is larger than the amount of space available in the room.
Therefore, a mirror is used to create an image of the eye chart behind the wall.
12.7: How does thickness of lens effect its focal length?
Ans: Higher the thickness, higher the power of the lens and shorter is the focal length. So
the lens with large thickness has short focal length and the lens with less thickness has
large focal length.
12.8: Under what condition converging lens forms a virtual image?
Ans: If object is placed within focal length of lens, image thus formed is virtual.
12.9: Under what conditions image formed by the converging lens is real and of the
same size of the object?
Ans: The image at 2F is real, inverted and of the same size of the object.

12.10: Why do
we use telescope with large objective and small eyepiece?
Ans: Due to large focal length of objective lens, the image of distant objects is formed
between eye piece lens and its focus F. The eye piece lens form a large virtual image of
distant objects, which is clear and brighter.
Numerical Problems
12.1: An object 10cm in front of a convex mirror forms an image 5cm behind the
mirror. What is its focal length?
Data:
p = 10cm
q = -5cm
f =?
Sol:-
1/f = 1/p + 1/q
f = -10cm
12.2: An object 30cm tall is located 10.5cm from a concave mirror with focal length
16cm a). Where is the image located? B) How high is it?
Data:-
O.H = 30cm
p= 10.5cm
q = 16cm
a) q=?
b) I.H =?
Solution:-
a) 1/f = 1/p + 1/q
q = - 30.54cm
b) q/p = I.H/O.H
I.H = 87.25cm
12.3: An object and its image in a concave mirror is of same height when object is
20cm from mirror. Find its focal length.
Data:-
p = 20cm
m=1
I.H = O.H
f =?
Sol:-
As m = I.H/O.H = q/p
q=p
1/f = 1/p + 1/q
f = 10cm
12.4: Find focal length of the mirror that forms an image 5.66cm behind a mirror of
an object placed at 34.4cm in front of the mirror.
Data:-
q = - 5.66cm
p = 34.4cm
f =?

Sol:-
1/f = 1/p + 1/q
f = -6.77cm
12.5: An image of a statue appears to be 11.5cm behind a concave mirror with focal
length 13.5cm. Find the distance of the statue from the mirror
Data:-
q = - 11.5cm
f = - 13.5cm (due to convex mirror)
p =?
Sol:-
1/f = 1/p +1/q
1/p= 1/f -1/q
p = 77.6cm
12.6: An image is produced by a concave mirror of focal length 8.7 cm. The object is
13.2 cm tall and at a distance 19.3 cm from the mirror.
(a) Find the location and height of the image.
(b) Find the height of the image produced by the mirror if the object is twice as far
from the mirror
Data:-
f = 8.7cm
O.H = 13.2cm
p = 19.3cm
i) q =?
ii) I.H =?
p = 38.6cm
Sol:-
1/f = 1/p + 1/q
q = 15,8cm
q/p = I.H/O.H
I.H = 10.8cm
b) q/p = I.H/O.H
I.H = 5.42cm
12.7: Nabeela uses a concave mirror when applying makeup. The mirror has a
radius of curvature of 38 cm.
(a) What is the focal length of the mirror?
(b) Nabeela is located 50 cm from the mirror. Where will her image appear?
(c) Will the image be upright or inverted?
Data:-
R = 38cm
a) f =?
b) q =? at p=50 cm
c) nature of image= ?
Sol:-
a) f = R/2 = 19cm
b) 1/q = 1/f - 1/p
q = 30.64cm
c) The image will be upright.
12.8: An object 4 cm high is placed at a distance of 12 cm from a convex lens of focal
length 8 cm. Calculate position and size of image. Also state nature of the image
Data:-
O.H = 4cm
p = 12cm
f = 8cm
a) q =?
 b) I.H =?
c) Nature of image =?
Sol:-
i. 1/f = 1/p + 1/q
q = 24cm
ii. I.H = O.H x q/p
= 8cm
iii. Nature of image: real, inverted and magnified image will formed
12.9: An object 10 cm high is placed at a distance of 20 cm from a concave lens of
focal length 15 cm. Calculate the position and size of the image. Also, state the
nature of the image.
Data:-
O.H =10 cm
p = 20cm
f = - 15cm
i. q =?
ii. I.H =?
Sol:-
i. 1/f = 1/p + 1/q
q = - 8.57cm
ii. I.H = O.H x q/p
= 4.28cm
12.10: A convex lens of focal length 6 cm is to be used to form a virtual image three
times the size of the object. Where must lens be placed?
Data:-
f = 6cm
q = - 3p
p =?
Sol:-
1/f = 1/p + 1/q
p = 4cm
12.11: A ray of light from air is incident on a liquid surface at an angle of incidence
35o. Calculate the angle of refraction if the refractive index of the liquid is 1.25. Also
calculate the critical angle between the liquid air interface.
Data:-
< i = 35
n = 1.25
i. <r =?
ii. <C =?
Sol:-
i. n = Sin<i/Sin<r
<r = 27.31
ii. n = 1/Sin<C
<C = 53.1
12.12: The power of a convex lens is 5 D. At what distance the object should be
placed from the lens so that its real and 2 times larger image is formed.
Data:-
P = 5D
q = 2p
p =?
Sol:-
f = 1/P
= 0.2m = 20cm
1/f = 1/p+ 1/q at q=2p
1/f = 1/p+ 1/2p
p = 30cm