LIGHT- REFLECTION AND REFRACTION

Question 1
Define the principal focus of a concave mirror.
Answer:
The principal focus of a concave mirror is a point on its principal axis to
which all the light rays which are parallel and close to the axis, converge
after reflection from the concave mirror.

Question 2
The radius of curvature of a spherical mirror is 20 cm. What is its focal
length?
Answer:
Focal length = 1
2 x Radius of curvature = 12 x 20 cm = 10 cm
Question 3
Name a mirror that can give an erect and enlarged image of an object.
Answer:
Concave mirror.

Question 4
Why do we prefer a convex mirror as a rear-view mirror in vehicles ?
Answer:
We prefer a convex mirror as a rear-view mirror in vehicles because of two
reasons :

1. A convex mirror always produces an erect image of the

objects.
2. The image formed in a convex mirror is highly diminished or
much smaller than the object, due to which a convex mirror
gives a wide field of view of the traffic behind. A convex mirror
enables the driver to view such larger area of the traffic behind
him.

Page Number: 171

Question 1
Find the focal length of a convex mirror whose radius of curvature is 32
cm.
Solution:
R = +32 cm and f=R2=+322=+16cm
Question 2
A concave mirror produces three times magnified (enlarged) real image of
an object placed at 10 cm in front of it. Where is the image located ?
Solution:
Because the image is real, so magnification m must be negative.
Thus the image is located at a distance of 30 cm from the mirror on the
object side of the mirror.

Page Number: 176

Question 1
A ray of light travelling in air enters obliquely into water. Does the light
ray bend towards the normal or away from the normal ? Why ?
Answer:
The light-ray bends towards the normal because the ray of light goes from
a rarer medium to a denser medium.

Question 2
Light enters from air to glass having refractive index 1.50. What is the
speed of light in the glass ? The speed of light in vacuum is 3 x 10 8 ms-1.
Solution:
Refractive index of glass, n8 = 1.50

Question 3
Find out, from Table 10.3, the medium having highest optical density. Also
find the medium with lowest optical density.
Answer:
From table 10.3, diamond has highest refractive index (= 2.42), so it has
highest optical density.
Air has lowest refractive index (= 1.0003),
so it has lowest optical density.

Question 4
You are given kerosene, turpentine and water. In which of these does the
light travel fastest ? Use the information given in Table 10.3.
Answer:
For kerosene, n = 1.44
For turpentine, n = 1.47
For water, n = 1.33
Because water has the lowest refractive index, therefore light travels
fastest in this optically rarer medium than kerosene and turpentine oil.
Question 5
The refractive index of diamond is 2.42. What is the meaning of this
statement?
Answer:
By saying that the refractive index of diamond is 2.42, we mean that the
speed of light in diamond is lower by a factor of 2.42 relative to that in
vacuum.

Page Number: 184

Question 1
Define 1 dioptre of power of a lens.
Answer:
One dioptre is the power of a lens whose focal length is 1 metre.

Question 2
A convex lens forms a real and inverted image of a needle at a distance of
50 cm from it. Where is the needle placed in front of the convex lens if the
image is equal to the size of the object ? Also, find the power of the lens. ,
Sol. Here, u — +50 cm ..
Solution:
Here ν = +50cm
Because the real image is of the same size as the object,

Question 3
Find the power of a concave lens of focal length 2 m.
Solution:
Because the focal length of a concave lens is negative,
therefore f = -2 m

Chapter End Questions

Question 1
Which one of the following materials cannot be used to make a lens ?
(a) Water
(b) Glass
(c) Plastic
(d) Clay
Answer:
(d) Clay

Question 2
The image formed by a concave mirror is observed to be virtual, erect and
larger than the object. Where should be the position of the object ?
(a) Between the principal focus and the centre of curvature
(b) At the centre of curvature
(c) Beyond the centre of curvature
(d) Between the pole of the mirror and its principal focus.
Answer:
(d) Between the pole of the mirror and its principal focus.

Question 3
Where should an object be placed in front of a convex lens to get a real
image of the size of the object ?
(a) At the principal focus of the lens (b) At twice the focal length
(c) At infinity
(d) Between the optical centre of the lens and its principal focus.
Answer:
(b) At twice the focal length.

Question 4
A spherical mirror and a thin spherical lens have each a focal length of -15
cm. The mirror and the lens are likely to be :
(a) Both concave.
(b) Both convex.
(c) the mirror is concave and the lens is convex.
(d) the mirror is convex, but the lens is concave.
Answer:
(a) Both concave

Question 5
No matter how far you stand from mirror, your image appears erect. The
mirror is likely to be
(a) plane
(b) concave
(c) convex
(d) either plane or convex.
Answer:
(d) Either plane or convex.

Question 6
Which of the following lenses would you prefer to use while reading small
letters found in a dictionary ?
(a) A convex lens of focal length 50 cm.
(b) A concave lens of focal length 50 cm.
(c) A convex lens of focal length 5 cm.
(d) A concave lens of focal length 5 cm.
Answer:
(c) A convex lens of focal length 5 cm.

Question 7
We wish to obtain an erect image of an object, using a concave mirror of
focal length 15 cm. What should be the range of distance of the object
from the mirror ? What is the nature of the image ? Is the image larger or
smaller than the object ? Draw a ray diagram to show the image formation
in this case.
Answer:
A concave mirror gives an erect image when the object is placed between
the focus F and the pole P of the concave mirror, i.e., between 0 and 15
cm from the mirror. The image thus formed will be virtual, erect and
larger than the object.

Question 8
Name the type of mirror used in the following situations.
(a) Headlights of a car.
(b) Side/rear-view mirror of a vehicle.
(c) Solar furnace.
Support your answer with reason.
Answer:
(a) Concave mirrors are used as reflectors in headlights of cars. When a
bulb is located at the focus of the concave mirror, the light rays after
reflection from the mirror travel over a large distance as a parallel beam
of high intensity.

(b) A convex mirror is used as a side/rear-view mirror of a vehicle because

 A convex mirror always forms an erect, virtual and diminished

image of an object placed anywhere in front it.
 A convex mirror has a wider field of view than a plane mirror of
the same size.

(c) Large concave mirrors are used to concentrate sunlight to produce

heat in solar furnaces.

Question 9
One-half of a convex lens is covered with a black paper. Will this lens
produce a complete image of the object ? Verify your answer
experimentally. Explain your observations.
Answer:
A convex lens forms complete image of an object, even if its one half is
covered with black paper. It can be explained by considering following two
cases.
Case I : When the upper half of the lens is covered
In this case, a ray of light coming from the object will be refracted by the
lower half of the lens. These rays meet at the other side of the lens to
form the image of the given object, as shown in the following figure.

Case II: When the lower half of the lens Is covered

In this case, a ray of light coming from the object is refracted by the upper
half of the lens. These rays meet at the other side of the lens to form the
image of the given object, as shown in the given figure.

Question 10
An object 5 cm in length is held 25 cm away from a converging lens of
focal length 10 cm. Draw the ray diagram and find the position, size and
the nature of the image formed.
Answer:
Here : Object distance, u= -25 cm,
Object height, h = 5 cm,
Focal length, f = +10 cm
According to the lens formula, 1f=1ν−1u , we have
⇒ 1ν=1f−1u=110−125=15250orν=25015=16.66cm
The positive value of v shows that the image is formed at the other side of
the lens.

The negative value of image height indicates that the image formed is
inverted.
The position, size, and nature of image are shown alongside in the ray
diagram.

Question 11
A concave lens of focal length 15 cm forms an image 10 cm from the lens.
How far is the object placed from the lens ? Draw the ray diagram.
Solution:
Focal length, f = -15 cm, Image distance, ν = -10 cm (as concave lens
forms the image on the same side of the lens)
From the lens formula 1f=1ν−1u , we have
Object distance, u = -30 cm
The negative value of u indicates that the object is placed in front of the
lens.
Question 12
An object is placed at a distance of 10 cm from a convex mirror of focal
length 15 cm. Find the position and nature of the image.
Solution:
Object distance, u = -10 cm, Focal length, f = +15 cm, Image distance, ν
=?

Thus, image distance, ν = + 6 cm

Because ν is +ve, so a virtual image is formed at a distance of 6 cm
behind the mirror.
Magnification, m=−υu=−6−30=15 (i.e. < 1)
The positive value of m shows that image erect and its value, which is less
than 1, shows that image is smaller than the object. Thus, image is virtual,
erect and diminished.
Question 13
The magnification produced by a plane mirror is +1. What does this
mean ?
Answer:
Since magnification, m=h‘h=−νu. Given, m = +1, so h’ = h and ν = -u
(i) m = 1 indicates the size of image is same as that of object.
(ii) positive sign of m indicates that an erect image is formed.

The opposite signs of ν and u indicate that image is formed on the other
side of the mirror from where the object is placed i.e., image is formed
behind the mirror and thus image formed is virtual.

Question 14
An object 5.0 cm in length is placed at a distance of 20 cm in front of a
convex mirror of radius of curvature 30 cm. Find the position of the image,
its nature and size.
Solution:
Since object size, h = +5 cm,
object distance, u = -20 cm
and radius of curvature, R = +30 cm
A virtual, erect image of height 2.2 cm is formed behind the mirror at a
distance of 8.6 cm from the mirror.

Question 15
An object of size 7.0 cm is placed at 27 cm in front of a concave mirror of
focal length 18 cm. At what distance from the mirror should a screen be
placed, so that a sharp focussed image can be obtained ? Find the size
and the nature of the image.
Answer:
Here, object size, h = +7.0 cm,
object distance, u = -27 cm
and focal length, f = -18 cm
Image distance, ν = ?
and image size, h’ = ?
From the mirror formula, 1f=1ν−1u, we have

The screen should be placed at a distance of 54 cm on the object side of

the mirror to obtain a sharp image.

The image is real, inverted and enlarged in size.

Question 16
Find the focal length of a lens of power -2.0 D. What type of lens is this ?
Answer:
Here, P = -2.0 D
The type of lens is concave because the focal length is negative.

Question 17
A doctor has prescribed a corrective lens of power +1.5 D. Find the focal
length of the lens. Is the prescribed lens diverging or converging ?
Answer:
Here, P = +1.5 D

Because the focal length is positive, the prescribed lens is converging.