11/16/2020 Physics Tutorial: Refraction and the Ray Model of Light

Diverging Lenses - Object-Image Relations

The Anatomy of a Lens
Refraction by Lenses
Image Formation Revisited
Converging Lenses - Ray Diagrams
Converging Lenses - Object-Image Relations
Diverging Lenses - Ray Diagrams
Diverging Lenses - Object-Image Relations
The Mathematics of Lenses

Previously in Lesson 5, ray diagrams were constructed in order to determine the location, size,
orientation, and type of image formed by double concave lenses (i.e., diverging lenses). The ray
diagram constructed earlier for a diverging lens revealed that the image of the object was virtual,
upright, reduced in size and located on the same side of the lens as the object. But will these
always be the characteristics of an image produced by a double concave lens? Can convex lenses
ever produce real images? Inverted images? Magnified Images? To answer these questions, we
will look at three different ray diagrams for objects positioned at different locations along the
principal axis. The diagrams are shown below. (Note that only two sets of incident and refracted
rays were used in the diagram in order to avoid overcrowding the diagram with rays.)

The diagrams above show that in each case, the image is

located on the object' side of the lens
a virtual image
an upright image
reduced in size (i.e., smaller than the object)
Unlike converging lenses, diverging lenses always produce images that share these characteristics.
The location of the object does not affect the characteristics of the image. As such, the
characteristics of the images formed by diverging lenses are easily predictable.

Another characteristic of the images of objects formed by diverging lenses pertains to how a
variation in object distance affects the image distance and size. The diagram below shows five
different object locations (drawn and labeled in red) and their corresponding image locations
(drawn and labeled in blue).

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11/16/2020 Physics Tutorial: Refraction and the Ray Model of Light

The diagram shows that as the object distance is decreased, the image distance is decreased and
the image size is increased. So as an object approaches the lens, its virtual image on the same
side of the lens approaches the lens as well; and at the same time, the image becomes larger.

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