CONCAVE MIRROR

Aim:
To find the value of ‘v’ for different values of ‘u’. In case of a concave mirror and find the focal
length.

Apparatus required:
A source box with filament lamp, meter scale, mirror holder, screen, given concave mirror etc.,

Theory:
According to mirror formula
𝟏 𝟏 𝟏
= + here both ‘u’ and ‘v’ are negative.
𝒇 𝒗 𝒖
𝟏 𝟏 𝟏
There fore = +
𝒇 −𝒗 −𝒖
𝒖𝒗
Thus f= - ( ) image.
𝒖+𝒗
According to sign conventions, f becomes negative.
Where u- distance of object from the mirror in cm
v- Distance of image from the mirror in cm.
f- Focal length of the given concave mirror in cm.

Procedure:

1) Find out the rough focal length by focusing the mirror towards distant tree (or) building
and obtain the image on screen.
2) This distance between the mirror is rough focal length.
3) Keep the source box and screen, facing the mirror.
4) Place the mirror at a distance around 2f from source.
5) Note the distance mirror and object (object distance ‘u’).
6) Adjust position of screen and obtain a clear image and note the distance between the
mirror and screen (image distance v).
7) Repeat the experiment for different values of u and corresponding values of ‘v’ is
measured.
8) Record observations and calculate focal length using the formula.
 Table for U-V Method

Corrected
Position of 𝟏 𝟏 𝒖𝒗
distance F=
S.NO 𝒖 𝒗 𝒖+𝒗
Object Mirror Image u v (cm)
(cm-1) (cm-1)
(cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Ray Diagram:

𝟏 𝟏
Model Graph (u-v Graph and - graph)
𝒗 𝒖
Result:

Focal length of concave mirror from

Distant object method =_______ cm

u-v graph method =_______ cm

1/u - 1/v graph =_______ cm

u-v calculations =_______ cm

Precautions:

1. Always mirror should be fixed vertically in the mirror holder

2. Measure distance between mirror and screen only when clean, well-defined image of
object is obtained.

Sources of error:

1. Mirror may not be fixed vertically.

2. There may be parallax error.