FOCAL LENGTH OF A CONCAVE LENS

AIM
To determine the focal length of a given concave lens using a convex lens.

APPARATUS
Concave lens, convex lens, light source, lens holders, screen and a metre scale.

THEORY

As a concave lens always forms a virtual image, its focal length cannot be found
directly as for a convex lens. For this purpose, indirect method is used, as
described below.
An object O is placed on one side of a convex lens L1 and its real inverted image I
is located on the other side as shown in the ray diagram (a).
The concave lens L2 is placed between convex lens L1 and image I. The concave
lens diverges the rays and the image is now formed at I’ as shown in the ray
diagram (b).
For concave lens, I is the virtual object and I’ is the real image. Hence, O2I = u and
O2I’ = v.
Focal length can be calculated, using the thin lens formula.
1 1 1
= −
f v u
Where, f is the focal length, v is the image distance and u is the object distance.
In the experiment, the sign convention for both u and v are positive.
1 u−v
Hence, =
f uv

uv
f= ……………… (1)
u−v

PROCEDURE
1. Find the rough focal length of the given convex lens by focusing the image
of a distant object on the screen.
2. Place the light source at 2Fobject position of the convex lens and adjust the
screen to get a clear, well defined image of the object.
 3. Place the concave lens between the convex lens and the screen. The image
on the screen now gets blurred. Let the distance between the concave lens
and the screen (u) be 10cm.
4. Move the screen backwards till we get a clear and well defined image on it.
5. Measure the distance between the concave lens and the screen as the image
distance (v) of the concave lens.
6. Calculate the focal length of the concave lens using the equation (1).
7. Repeat steps 3 to 6 by changing the object distance (u) to 11cm, 12cm,
13cm, 14cm and 15cm.
8. Calculate mean focal length.

SOURCES OF ERROR
1. The two lenses and the screen may not be held vertical and in the same level.
2. The convex lens chosen may not be suitable for performing the combination
experiment .
3. The lenses may not be clean.

PRECAUTIONS
1. The lenses and screen are held vertical and at the same level using holders.
2. The lenses are chosen such that the equivalent lens due to the combination of
convex lens and concave lens is converging in nature.
3. The lenses are cleaned well before doing the experiment.

RESULT
The focal length of the given concave lens is found to be ………….. .
 TO BE WRITTEN ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE

RAY DIAGRAM
OBSERVATIONS

The rough focal length of the given convex lens = …………… cm

To determine the focal length of the concave lens:

uv
Sl. Object distance Image distance Focal length f =
u−v
No:
u (cm) v (cm) (cm)

Mean f = ……………. cm

CALCULATIONS

The mean focal length of the concave lens, f = ( f1+ f2 + f3 + f4 + f5 + f6 ) / 6

= ………………….. cm