Disclaimer: The information on this page has not been checked by an independent person.   Use this information at your own risk.
ROYMECH

Home
Physics Home

Mirrors - Lenses

Mirrors & Lenses

Spherical Mirrors

Spherical Mirrors can be either Concave or Convex.

The focal length (f) is the distance from the mirror face to the focal point (F) where the reflected rays or parallel light meet.   For a spherical mirror with a surface radius R.

Concave mirror f = + R/2
Concave mirror f = - R/2  

Note: for the convex mirror the focal point is a virtual point located behind the surface of the mirror.

Mirror

Mirror Equation

For an object located a distance p from a mirror the image is located at a distance q from the mirror surface as difined below:

1 / p + 1 / q = 1 / f

Therefore :

p = q.f / ( q - f )   and   q = p.f / ( p-f )   and   f = p.q / ( p + q )

Magnification

The linear magnification ( m ) of any optical system is the ratio between the size (height or width or other transverse dimension ) of image and the associated size of the relevant object.  In the case of a mirror

m = h' / h = - q / p

The magnification = Image Height/ Object Height = image distance / object distance.

A positive magnification indicates a image in the same direction as the object.   A negative image indicates a inverted image...


Lenses

These notes related only to simple thin lenses with neglible glass thickness...
A lens is defined by the two surface radii ( R1 & R2 ) and its focal length(f)    for a convex lens the focal point (F) is a virtual focal point..

Lens


The equation is used to calculate the focal length

1 / f = ( n - 1 ) . ( 1 / R1 + 1 / R2 )


n = the index of refraction of the lens material relative to the surrounding medium.
R1 and R2 are positive for convex lens and negative for concave lens

The lens equation

The object distance, the image distance and the focal length of a lens are related by the following formula.

1 / f = 1 /p + 1 / q

Therefore

p = q.f / (q -f)    and   q = p . f / ( p - f )   and   f = p . q. / ( p + q )

Magnification... The same as for mirrors as indicated above

.. The linear magnification ( m ) of any optical system is the ratio between the size (height or width or other transverse dimension ) of image and the associated size of the relevant object.  In the case of a mirror

m = h' / h = - q / p

The magnification = Image Height/ Object Height = image distance / object distance.

A positive magnification indicates a image in the same direction as the object.   A negative image indicates a inverted image...

Sites & Links for physics of lens and mirrors

  1. Thin Lens ....A Java applet site demonstrating lens optics
  2. GCSE Physics - Waves....Lots of very pretty and informative tutorials
  3. U of Calgary Optics Lecture notes....A very informative document download on light and optics
  4. Physics Lab....An easy to use applet site demonstrating mirror and lens Optics


This page is being developed


Home
Physics Home

Send Comments to Roy@roymech.co.uk

Last Updated 14/02/2008