31.

Mirrors and Lenses

Light provides the most important sensory input to our brains, and as a result, light plays a major role in our existence. More
and more technology uses light for control and communication, and mirrors and lenses are vital for manipulating light.

31.1. Plane Mirrors

A few objects, such as a lamp or the Sun, are seen by the light they emit. However, most objects are seen in reflected light.
Every point from which light is reflected can be considered a kind of secondary source of light. In Fig. 31-1 I've drawn an object
O in front of a mirror. I've shown rays coming only from the top, but they come from all parts. The rays reflect off the mirror
according to the law of reflection, with θ1 = θ′1 . If you were to look toward the reflected rays, they would all appear to come from
point I, the image of point O. When light appears to come from an image but does not actually do so, the image is a virtual
image. An image formed behind a mirror is always a virtual image. From the drawing you can see that for a plane mirror, the
image size is equal to the object size, h = h′, and the object distance is equal to the image distance, d0 = di. Note that the object
does not have to be directly in front of the mirror in order for an image to be seen. In Fig. 31-1c you could imagine removing the
upper half of the mirror and the image would still be seen. However, to see the image, you do have to position your eye
correctly. Imagine that the piece of mirror you are looking at is like a window in a house. To see something inside, you have to
be lined up in the right place. The same is true for a mirror.

Figure 31-1

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PROBLEM 31.1. How tall does a wall mirror have to be in order for you to see all of yourself in the mirror? Does it matter how
far you stand from the mirror?

Solution If you stand a distance d from the mirror and your height is h, then from the drawing I see that the length L of mirror
required is given by the law of similar triangles:

PROBLEM 31.2. A periscope consists of two parallel plane mirrors, positioned as shown here. Let a = distance from the
object viewed to the first mirror, H = separation of the mirrors, and d = distance of your eye from the lower mirror. How far from
your eye is the image you see? Is it right side up or upside down?

Solution The image I1 formed in the upper mirror acts as the object for the lower mirror. From the drawing, I see that the
distance from the eye to image I2 is a + H + d, and the image is right side up.

31.2. Spherical Mirrors

Images formed by spherical mirrors are illustrated in Fig. 31-2. Point C is the center of curvature of the mirror of radiusR. The
horizontal line through C is the axis of the mirror. The dark vertical line is the object, and the light double vertical line is the
image. Point F is the focal point of the mirror. The distance along the axis from the focal point to the mirror is thefocal length of
the mirror. For spherical mirrors, f = R. Observe that a ray striking the mirror parallel to the axis is reflected back through the
focal point. This is what defines the focal point.

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 Figure 31-2

Figs. 31-2a, b, and c show concave mirrors (they are "caved in"). Figs. 31-2d and e are convex mirrors. Observe that the focal
point for the convex mirror is to the right of the reflecting surface. I have drawn in three principal rays to locate the images (only
two are needed, but you should know how to draw all three). Ray 1 comes in parallel to the axis and leaves along a line through
the focal point F. Ray 2 goes in along a line through the center of curvatureC and reflects back along the same line. Ray 3
comes in along a line directed at the focal point and leaves parallel to the axis. The reflected rays appear to come from the
image. In cases a and b the light "really" passes through the image (these are real images). In c, d, and e the light only appears
to come from the image. These are virtual images. You can reverse the direction of travel of any ray and it will still follow the
same path (the principle of reciprocity). Thus if you place the object at what is now the image position, the image will form at
the present object position.

Always draw ray diagrams for mirrors and lenses with the incident light moving from left to right. Using geometry, you can
deduce the following equation for locating more exactly the position and size of the image.

(31.1)

Here

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d0 and di are positive if the object or image is in front of the mirror, negative if behind. For a concave mirror,f > 0, and for a
convex mirror, f > 0. The magnification is defined as

(31.2)

If M > 0, the image is upright. If M < 0, the image is upside down.

PROBLEM 31.3. You've probably noticed on the right-hand side mirror of your car the warning: CAUTION: Objects are closer
than they appear. This warning appears because a convex mirror is used there (unlike the plane mirror on the left side). It forms
a diminished image, like that in Fig. 31-2d. If you thought you were looking in a plane mirror (as your brain automatically
assumes), the object would be much farther away than it actually is. The advantage of the convex mirror is that it provides a
very wide field of view. Such mirrors are also used in stores so that a cashier can watch out for shoplifters. Suppose that in the
mirror of Fig. 31-2d you see the image of a truck 2 m tall in a mirror with radius 30 cm. If the truck is 20 m behind the mirror,
how large will the image be? If you saw this same image in a plane mirror, how far away would your brain think the truck is?

Solution Here d0 = 20 m, and f = −R/2 = −0.15 m. Thus

If you saw such a small image in a flat mirror, you would think the distance to the truck was about (2m/0.15m)(20m) = 267m
away !!! CAREFUL!

PROBLEM 31.4. High school kids are always worried about zits. When I was an adolescent, I had one of those magnifying
shaving mirrors with which I perused my physiognomy diligently. The setup is like that in Fig. 31-2c. If you place your face 15
cm from the mirror, what radius of curvature is required to provide a magnification of 1.33?

Solution

With such a large radius, the mirror looks almost flat, and you may never have noticed that it is spherical. As you can see,
mirrors can magnify.

PROBLEM 31.5. An amateur astronomer wants to build a telescope using a concave mirror to collect light from distant
objects. She builds a spherical dish with a radius of curvature 4.00 m. She has a second small concave mirror of focal length
0.200 m which she proposes to place facing the big mirror on the axis of the big mirror just outside its focal point. She makes a
hole in the large mirror on its axis. Her purpose is to make it possible to view the image by placing her eye (or a camera) to the
right of the big mirror. It would be awkward if she put her head to the left of the big mirror where she would block the incoming
light. She would like the final image formed 10 cm to the right of the big mirror. Where should she place the small mirror (see
Fig. 31-2c)?

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Solution Since the stellar objects are very far away, d0 = ∞ for the big mirror, so for it 1/∞ + 1/d′i, = 1/2 m (since f = R=2
m). Thus d′i, = 2 m. If the object distance for the small mirror isx, the image distance must be di = 2.10 m + x. Thus for the small
mirror,

so

x = 0.22 m

Place the small mirror 2.22 m from the big one.

31.3. Thin Lenses

Lenses form images by refraction. They bend light much as a prism does (Fig. 31-3). By using spherical surfaces, parallel light
rays may be brought to a fairly sharp focus at the focal point. In fact, the rays have to be very near the axis to get a sharp focus,
but I draw them as shown for clarity. The upper lens here is a converging lens that bends the rays together. Any lens thicker on
the axis than on the edge is a converging lens. The lower is a diverging lens. A lens thicker on the edge than on the axis is a
diverging lens in which parallel incident rays diverge away from the focal point. The distance from the center of the lens to the
focal point is the focal length. If light were to come from the right, it would be focused at a focal point to the left of the lens.
Thus the lens has two focal points, one on each side, each a distance f from the midpoint (assuming the same outside medium
on both sides).

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 Figure 31-3

One can locate images for lenses by ray tracing, as shown inFig. 31-4. Three principal rays are shown. The light is refracted at
both surfaces of the lens, but for simplicity I do not show this. Ray 1 travels parallel to the axis and then leaves the lens along a
line through the focal point. Ray 2 goes straight through the center of the lens without deviation. The center of the lens is like a
flat plate of glass, and it displaces the ray slightly laterally but does not deviate it. Ray 3 goes through the focal point and then
leaves the lens parallel to the axis. The point from which the rays appear to emanate is the top of the image. Diverging lenses
only form virtual images. Converging lenses can form real or virtual images, as shown in Fig. 31-4. Only two principal rays are
needed to locate an image, but you should know how to draw all three of the rays shown.

Figure 31-4

It is possible to obtain an equation to determine image size and location. In Fig. 31-5, triangles AA′O and CC′O are similar
triangles, so h/h′ = d0 /di. Also, triangles BOF and CC′F are similar, so h/h′ = f/(di − f). Equate these expressions.

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 Figure 31-5

Divide both sides by fd 0 di and rearrange.

(31.3)

This has the same form as the mirror equation (Eq. 31.1). It describes all of the arrangements shown in Fig. 31-4, provided that
the following sign conventions are observed. The "front" of the lens is the side from which the light comes.

d0 is positive if the object is in front of the lens, negative if in back of the lens.

di is positive if the image is in back of the lens, negative if in front of the lens.

f is positive for converging lenses, negative for diverging lenses.

The magnification of the lens is

(31.4)

We can derive an expression for the focal length of a thin lens in terms of the radii of curvature of the surfaces. If the curvatures
of the front and back surfaces are R1 and R2 , respectively, and the lens is in air, then

(31.5)

R1 and R2 are positive if the center of curvature is in back of the lens and negative if it is in front.n is the index of refraction of
the lens.

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PROBLEM 31.6. Determine the image distance, nature of the image, and magnification when an object is placed (a) 5 cm, (b)
10 cm, and (c) 20 cm from a converging lens of focal length 10 cm.

Solution

(a)

Since di < 0, the image is virtual.

(b)

so di = ∞ and the image is formed at infinity.

(c)

The image is real (di > 0).

PROBLEM 31.7. Combinations of lenses are often used. The image of the first lens serves as the object for the second lens.
Suppose two thin coaxial lenses with focal lengths f1 = 25 cm and f2 = 10 cm are separated by 8 cm. An insect is positioned 6
cm from lens 1 (on the opposite side from lens 2). Where is its final image?

Solution The image position for the first lens is d1i, where 1/25 cm = 1/6cm + 1/d1i. d1i = −7.9 cm (virtual image). Thus the
object distance for the second lens is d20 = 8 cm + 7.9 cm = 15.9 cm.

The final image (real) is thus 27 cm from the second lens and 41 cm from the bug.

PROBLEM 31.8. A diverging lens in conjunction with a converging lens can be used to make a "beam expander" for parallel
rays, as in a laser beam. If you have a diverging lens of focal length f1 and a converging lens of focal length f2 , by what factor
will a beam be expanded?

Solution Place the lenses so that their focal points coincide, with the incoming beam striking the diverging lens first. From the
drawing I see that R/f2 = r/f1 , so R/r = f2 /f1 .

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PROBLEM 31.9. Show that the lens equation may be written f2 = xx′, where x and x′ are the object and image distances
measured from the focal points. This is the newtonian form of the lens equation.

Solution

Simplify:

31.4. Optical Instruments

You have no doubt noticed that you can see an object such as a tree more clearly when it is up close to you. This is not because
the tree is bigger when it is closer, but rather because when it is closer, the rays of light from it subtend a larger angle at your
eye. If an object of height h subtends an angle θ0 at your eye, then for small angles If you now look through an
optical instrument at the object and find the image subtends an angle θ, the angular magnification is defined as

(31.6)

The average young adult cannot comfortably focus on objects closer than about 25 cm (the near point). Thus an object of
height h at the near point will subtend an angle of θ0 = h/25 cm when it is as close as can be seen clearly. A relaxed eye easily
focuses on an image at infinity, however, so with a simple magnifier (a converging lens) the object is placed at the focal point.
This results in an image at infinity because

An object of height h at the focal point a distance f from the lens will subtend an angle θ, where tan . Thus the
angular magnification of the simple magnifier is

or

(31.7)

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If the image is formed at the near point instead of at infinity, the maximum magnification can be obtained. In this casedi = −25
cm (neglecting the distance from the eye to the magnifier) and (1/− 25) + 1/d0 = 1/f. Thus

PROBLEM 31.10. A jeweler examines a diamond with a loupe (a simple magnifier) with a focal length of 8.0 cm. What
magnification is obtained if the gem is positioned so that its image is at the normal near point, 25 cm? How far from the lens
must the diamond be held?

Solution

The diamond should be held 6.1 cm from the lens. The angular magnification will be 4.1.

A refracting telescope is used for viewing very distant objects (for example, stars or ships on the horizon). Incoming light first
strikes an objective lens that forms an inverted image near its focal point (since the object distance is infinite). This image
serves as the object for the eyepiece lens, and a virtual final image is then formed at infinity and viewed by the eye. Thus the
focal points of the two lenses coincide, and their separation is then f1 + f2 (Fig. 31-6). If the intermediate image height is h, tan
and tan ; then

(31.8)

Figure 31-6

PROBLEM 31.11. The refracting telescope at the Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin has an objective lens focal length of 20 m
and an eyepiece focal length of 2.5 cm. The diameter of the objective is 40 in (made large in order to gather more light, not for
greater magnification). It is difficult to make such large lenses because of many problems, so most modern large telescopes
use reflecting mirrors. What magnification of the Moon can the Yerkes telescope provide?

Solution

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A compound microscope is used for looking at small objects up close. An objective and an eyepiece are used Fig.
( 31-7). The
object of height h to be viewed is placed just outside the focal point of the objective at an object distance . The first
image is formed a distance di from the objective, resulting in magnification M = − (di/d0 ) = −(di/d0 ) (see Eq. 31.4). The eyepiece
is essentially a simple magnifier used to view the second image. It provides magnification 25/fe (see Eq. 31.7, with fe in
centimeters). The resultant magnification of the microscope is the product of the magnification of the objective and the
magnification of the eyepiece:

(31.9)

Figure 31-7

Here f0 = objective focal length, fe = eyepiece focal length, and di = distance from objective lens to first intermediate image.
Typically so di is roughly the length of the instrument (about 18 cm).

31.5. Summary of Key Equations

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31.5. Summary of Key Equations

31.6. SUPPLEMENTARY PROBLEMS

31.12. A rectangular room of dimensions a × b has mirrors on three walls. A horizontal laser beam is directed through a hole
in the unsilvered wall (of length a) a distance x from one end. It is reflected off each of the other walls once. It then leaves
the room through the hole it entered. At what angle to the first wall should the beam be directed?

31.13. A light beam traveling in the xy plane strikes a plane mirror in the xz plane. When the mirror rotates about the z-axis
through an angle φ, through what angle does the light beam rotate?

31.14. A person sits in a chair 3 m from a wall on which hangs a plane mirror. Three meters directly behind him stands a
woman 1.6 m tall. What minimum height of plane mirror on the wall will enable him to see the woman's full height?

31.15. I play some hilly golf courses, and sometimes the course has a plane mirror mounted on a pole so that you (U) can
see the players ahead on a blind tee shot. Suppose the mirror is 1.0 m wide, and you stand 4 m from it and 1.0 m to one
side, as shown here (not to scale). The group G ahead starts at the tee T and walks along the path indicated. Over what
range of distances from the tee can you see them in the mirror?

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 31.16. If you look in the convex side of a soup spoon (radius 3 cm), you will see a little tiny you. How large is your image if
your face (height h) is 20 cm away from the spoon?

31.17. You are asked to design a servomechanism control system in a factory so that when a machine part 0.60 m tall goes
by on a conveyor belt at a distance of 2 m from the control unit, its image in a concave mirror will fill a photodetector port
0.50 cm tall. What radius of curvature is required for the mirror? How far from the mirror should the detector be placed?

31.18. A short rod of length L is placed on the axis of a spherical mirror a distanced0 from the mirror, where .
Determine the length L′ of the image. The ratio L′/L is the longitudinal magnification of the mirror. How is this magnification
related to the lateral magnification, Eq. 31.2?

31.19. Sketched here is the arrangement of mirrors used for a Cassagrain reflector astronomical telescope. A small
spherical mirror is placed 2.5 m from a large concave spherical mirror of radius of curvature 6.0 m. A hole is made on the
axis of the large mirror, and the design provides for the image of a distant object to be formed 0.80 m behind the large
mirror, where it can conveniently be observed or photographed. What radius of curvature is required for the small mirror, and
is it concave or convex?

31.20. When fitting contact lenses or preparing for eye surgery, it is important to measure the radius of curvature of the
cornea. This can be done with a keratometer, a device in which an illuminated object is placed a known distance from the
eye and the size of the virtual image formed is observed and measured with a small telescope. Suppose that for an object
distance of 120 mm a magnification of 0.040 is obtained. What is the radius of curvature of the cornea?

31.21. My single-lens reflex camera has two interchangeable lenses, one of focal length 55 mm and one of focal length 200
mm. A person 1.70 m tall stands 10 m away from the camera. What is the size of her image on the film for each of the two
lenses? Which of these lenses do you believe is called a "telephoto lens"?

31.22. Two thin converging lenses of focal lengths f1 and f2 are coaxial and placed very close together. What is the effective
focal length of the combination?

31.23. The power of a lens is defined as P = 1/f, where f is in meters and P is in diopters (optometrists use these units when
they prescribe glasses). What is the power of two lenses in close contact? Do you see why this definition of lens power is
reasonable?

31.24. In a common physics lab experiment a lighted source is placed a fixed distanceD from a screen. A converging lens
of focal length f is placed between the source and the screen. Determine the separation between the two possible images
that can be formed, and calculate the ratio of their sizes.

31.25. An object is placed 60 cm in front of a diverging lens of focal length −15 cm. A converging lens of focal length 20 cm
is placed 10 cm behind the first lens. Where is the final image located, and what is the overall magnification?

31.26. What is the angular magnification of a simple magnifier of focal length 5 cm if it forms an image 25 cm from the eye?

31.27. Blood cells are viewed in a microscope whose eyepiece has a focal length of 3.0 cm and an objective lens with a
focal length of 0.40 cm. The distance between the eyepiece and the objective is 18 cm. If a blood cell subtends an angle of
2 × 10−5 rad when viewed with the naked eye, what angle does it subtend when viewed through the microscope?

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 31.28. A telescope's objective lens has a focal length of 50 cm, and the eyepiece has a focal length of 2 cm. How far apart
should the lenses be to form an image at infinity? What then is the magnification? What should be the lens separation if the
image is formed at the near point, 25 cm?

31.29. An object is placed 20.0 cm from a converging lens of focal length 50 mm. If the object moves toward the lens at a
speed of 12 cm/s, at what speed does the image move away from the lens?

31.30. The focal length on a camera with a zoom lens can vary from 35 mm to 120 mm. You photograph a very distant
object 2.0 m tall, first using the 35 mm focal length and then using the 120 mm focal length. What is the approximate ratio
of the sizes of the two images?

SOLUTIONS TO SUPPLEMENTARY PROBLEMS

31.12. Draw the ray diagram here. For the ray to emerge from the hole, tan θ = y/x, where x/a = y/b so tan θ = b/a. Observe
that whenever a ray strikes two perpendicular mirrors, the reflected ray is parallel to the incident ray, no matter what the
angle of the angle of incidence. This is also true for three perpendicular mirrors, and this is the basis of the corner cube
reflector, a mirror that always sends a ray straight back. When people first went to the corner cube reflector was left there
from which laser beams could be reflected. This has important uses, including measuring exactly the distance to the Moon.

31.13. If the angle of incidence increases by angle α, the angle of reflection also increases by α. Thus the angle between the
incident beam and the reflected beam increases by 2α when the incident beam rotates by angle α.

31.14. The image of the woman is 6 m behind the mirror, or 9 m from the person in the chair. Draw rays from the sitting
person's eyes to the top and bottom of the image. Use the law of similar triangles with h the height of the mirror, h/3m =
1.6m/9m and h = 0.53 m.

31.15. Draw the ray diagram and use the law of similar triangles.

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 31.16.

31.17. Use a concave mirror:

Place the detector 1.7 cm from mirror.

31.18. Let d0 = x and di = y. Then

Take the derivative:

But for a short rod,

31.19. For the large mirror, f1 = 1/2R1 = 3.0 m. The object viewed (a star) is far away, so its image is formed at the focal
point of the large mirror. The object distance for the small mirror is thus d0 = 2.5m − 3m = −0.50m. A negative object
distance means the object point is behind the mirror (a virtual object). The image distance for the small mirror isdi = − (2.5
m + 0.8 m) = − 3.3 m. di < 0 because the image is in front of the mirror. Thus

31.20.

31.21. For f = 55 mm,

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 The image size h′ = Mh (−5.53 × 10−3)(1.70mm = −9.4mm). For f = 200mm, find: di = 204mm, M = −0.0204, and h&′ = −35 mm
(inverted image). A long focal length lens in a camera gives more magnification and is called a telephoto lens.

31.22. For the first lens, 1/f1 = (1/d0 ) + (1/di). The image distance for the first lens is the object distance for the second lens,
but for it the object distance is negative (the "object" is behind the second lens). Thus

Thus the effective focal length f is given by

31.23. From Problem 30.21, 1/f = 1/f1 + 1/f2 , so P = P1 + P2 . A short focal length means more "power," that is, more
magnification, as seen in Eq. 31.7 for the simple magnifier.

31.24. Given that

Let

Thus

31.25. Use the lens formula twice:

The image of the first lens is the object for the second lens:

Thus the final image is 220 cm to the right of lens 2:

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 31.26. From Eq. 31.7

31.27. From Eq. 31.9,

I assume di is approximately equal to the length of the microscope tube. Thus, θ2 = 375 θ = 375(2 × 10−5 rad) = 7.5 × 10−3
rad.

31.28. From Fig. 31-6. I see that the lens spacing is approximately L = f0 + fe 50 cm + 2cm 52 cm. The magnification (Eq.
31.8) is

If the final image is formed at the near point, 25 cm, then die = −25 cm and

In this case, the lens separation should be L = f0 + die 50 cm + 1.85 cm = 51.85 cm.

31.29.

31.30. From Eq. 31.4,

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 The two image sizes are

The long focal length lens produces a larger image.

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