Aim

To determine the focal length of:

• Concave mirror
• Convex lens by obtaining the image of a distant object.

Theory

How to Find Focal Length of Concave Mirror?

Following are the ways to obtain the focal length of the concave mirror:

• A concave mirror is defined as the spherical mirror whose reflecting surface is

curved inwards and follows laws of reflection of light.
• The light rays coming from a distant object can be considered to be parallel to
each other.
• If the image formed is real, inverted and very small in size, then the parallel rays of
light meet the point in the front of the mirror.
• The image formed by the convex lens is real and can be obtained on the screen.
• f is used to denote the difference between the principal axis P and the focus F of
the concave mirror.

How to Find the Focal Length of Convex Lens?

Following are the ways to obtain the focal length of convex lens:

• The convex lens is thicker in the middle and thinner at the edges and is also
known as the converging lens.
• The refracted rays from the parallel beam of light converge on the other side of
the convex lens.
• If the image is obtained at the focus of the lens, the image would be real, inverted
and very small.
• f is the focal length which is the difference between the optical centre of the lens
and the principal focus.
• The image can be obtained on the screen as the image formed by the lens is real.
To Determine Focal Length of a Given Concave
Mirror

Materials Required

1. A concave mirror
2. A measuring scale
3. A screen holder
4. A mirror holder
5. A mirror stand

Procedure

1. The distance between the selected distinct object should be more than 50 ft.
2. The concave mirror placed on the mirror stand and the distant object should be
facing each other.
3. The screen should be placed in front of the reflecting surface of the mirror. To
obtain a clear, sharp image the screen should be adjusted.
4. Using a metre scale the distance between the concave mirror and screen can be
determined. The distance is the same as the focal length of the given concave
mirror.
5. Repeat the above procedure thrice to calculate the average focal length.
Result
10 cm is the focal length of the concave mirror.
Precautions

1. To get a well illuminated and distinct image of the distinct object, the distant
object should be well illuminated.
2. A concave mirror should be always placed near an open window.
3. The polished surface of the concave mirror and the distinct object should be
facing each other.
4. There should not be any hurdle between the rays of light from the object and the
concave mirror.
5. The screen and the concave mirror stand should be parallel to the measuring
scale.
6. The mirror holder along with the mirror should be perpendicular to the measuring
scale.

Practical no 2:

Aim
To trace the path of a ray of light passing through a rectangular glass slab for
different angles of incidence. Measure the angle of incidence, angle of
refraction, and angle of emergence, and interpret the result.

Theory
What are the laws of refraction?
Following are the laws of refraction:

• The incident ray, the normal at the point of incidence, and the refracted ray lie in
the same plane.
• Snell’s law states that the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of
the angle of refraction is constant.

Sini i/ Sin r. = constant

What is refraction of light?

The refraction of light is a property of light due to which it changes its path
when it passes from one medium to the other.

What is lateral displacement?

Lateral displacement is defined as the perpendicular shift in the path of light
when it emerges out from the refracting medium.

Materials Required
1. A drawing board
2. 4-6 all pins
3. White sheet of paper
4. Rectangular glass slab
5. A protractor
6. A scale
7. A pencil
8. Thumb pins

Procedure
1. Fix a white sheet on the soft drawing board using thumb pins.
2. Place the glass slab at the centre of the white paper and draw its outline
boundary using a sharp pencil.
3. Let ABCD be the rectangular figure obtained by drawing.
4. Mark a point E on AB and draw a perpendicular EN and label it as a normal ray.
5. Draw one angle of 30° with the help of protractor with EN. Fix pins at P and Q at 4-5
cm on the ray that is obtained by the angle.
6. Place the glass slab on the rectangular figure ABCD.
7. To fix R and S, see through the glass slab from side CD, such that when seen
through the glass slab, all the pins P, Q, R, and S should lie in a straight line.
8. Draw small circles around the pins P, Q, R and S and remove the pins.
9. Remove the glass slab.
 10. Join points R and S such that it meets CD at point F. Draw a perpendicular N’M’ to
CD at point F.
11. Using a pencil, join the points E and F.
12. Measure the angles formed at AB and CD, i.e, the incident angle, refracted angle,
and emergent angle.
13. The lateral displacement is obtained by extending the ray PQ in a dotted line
which is parallel to ray FRS.
14. Measure the lateral displacement.
15. Repeat the same procedure for angles 45° and 60°.

Ray Diagram
Observation Table
 Sl.no Angle of Angle of Angle of ∠i – ∠e
incidence refraction emergence ∠PEN –
∠i = ∠r = ∠e = ∠SFM’
∠PEN ∠MEF ∠SFM’

1 30° 28° 30° 0°

2 45° 43° 44.8° 0.2°

3 60° 56° 59.8° 0.2°

Due to human error the value of ∠i – ∠e may not be equal to zero.

Conclusion
1. The angle of incidence and the angle of emergence are almost equal.
2. As the light is traveling from rarer to denser optical medium, the angle of
refraction will be lesser than the angle of incidence.
3. For different angles of incidence, the lateral displacement will remain the same.
4. The light will bend towards the normal when it travels from an optically rarer
medium to an optically denser medium.

Precautions
1. The rectangular glass slab used should have perfectly smooth faces.
2. The drawing board should be soft so that pins can be easily fixed on it.
3. The angle of incidence should lie between 30° and 60°.
4. All pins base should be in a straight line.
5. The distance between the pins P and Q or the pins R and S, about 5 cm gap
should be maintained.
6. Using a sharp pencil, draw thin lines.
7. The quality of the protractor should be good.
8. The placement of the protractor should be correct to get correct measurements.
9. The perpendiculars should be drawn with care.
Sources of Error
1. There shouldn’t be any air bubbles in the glass slab.
2. The measurements done by the protractor should be accurate.

Practical no 3:

Aim
To trace the path of the rays of light through a glass prism.

Theory

What Is a prism?
A prism is defined as a polyhedron with a triangular base and three
rectangular lateral surfaces. It is used as an optical object to study the
behaviour of white light when it is passed through it. The light bends at
various angles like an angle of incidence, angle of reflection, angle of
refraction, and angle of deviation.

What Is the angle of deviation?

The angle of deviation is defined as the angle between the incident ray and
the emerging ray.

Materials Required
Following are the list of materials required for this experiment:

• A white sheet
 • Soft board
• Thumb pins
• 4-6 all pins
• Prism
• Pencil
• Scale
• Protractor
• Drawing board

Experimental Setup

Procedure
1. Fix a white sheet on a drawing board using drawing pins.
2. Place the triangular prism resting on its triangular base. Using a pencil, draw the
outline of the prism.
3. Draw NEN normal to the face of the prism AB. Make an angle between 30° and
60° with the normal.
4. On the line PE, fix two pins at a distance of 5cm from each other and mark these
as P and Q.
5. Look for the images of the pins at P and Q through the other face of the prism AC.
 6. Fix two pins at R and S such that they appear as a straight line as that of the P and
Q when it is viewed from the AC face of the prism.
7. Remove the pins and the prism.
8. At point F, make the points R and S meet by extending them.
9. PQE is the incident ray which is extended till it meets face AC. SRF is the emergent
ray which is extended backward to meet at point G.
10. Now mark the angle of incidence ∠i, angle of refraction ∠r and the angle of
emergence ∠e and the angle of deviation ∠D as shown in the experimental setup.
11. Repeat the experiment for more angles between 30° and 60°.

Observations
1. At surface AB, the light ray enters and bends towards the normal on refraction.
2. At surface AC, the light ray bends away from the normal as it travels from one
medium (glass) to the other (air).
3. The angle of deviation is observed. Here, the emergent ray bends at an angle from
the direction of the incident ray.

Conclusion
1. The incident ray bends towards the normal when it enters the prism and while
leaving the prism it bends away from the normal.
2. With the increase in the angle of incidence, the angle of deviation decreases. After
attaining the minimum value, it increases with an increase in the angle of
incidence.

Precautions
• For drawing the boundary of the prism, a sharp pencil should be used.
• Soft board and pointed pins should be used.
• The distance between the pins should be 5cm or more.
• The pins should be fixed vertically and should be encircled when they are
removed from the board.
• The angle of incidence should be between 30° and 60°.
• The arrows drawn for incident ray, reflected ray and emergent ray should be
proper.
 • For viewing the col-linearity of all four pins and images, the head should be
slightly tilted on either side. While doing this it can appear as if all are moving
together.

Practical no 4:

Aim
To determine the equivalent resistance of two resistors when connected in
parallel.

Theory
If the resistors are connected in parallel along with a battery, then the total
current I is calculated as a sum of the separate value of current through each
branch. It is given as:

I = I1+I2+I3+….

Materials Required

1. A battery
2. A plug key
3. Connecting wires
4. An ammeter
5. A voltmeter
6. Rheostat
7. A piece of sandpaper
8. Two resistors of different values
Procedure

1. Make all the connections as shown in the experimental setup I by keeping the key
off.
2. Insert the key when the circuit is connected appropriately.
3. For resistors R1 and R2, note three readings of ammeter and voltmeter.
4. Connect the circuit as shown in the experimental setup II.
5. Resistors and voltmeter both are connected in parallel.
6. Record three readings of ammeter and voltmeter and use a rheostat.
7. Remove the key.
8. With the help of the observation table, do the calculations.

Observation Table

Resistor used No.of Voltmeter Ammeter R=V/I Mean

observations reading reading (in value of
in Volts in Ohm) resistance
(V) Ampere (Ohm)
(I)

R1 (first resistor) a 0.01 0.01 1 R1 = 1 ohm

 b 0.02 0.02 1

c 0.04 0.04 1

R2 (second a 0.02 0.01 2 R2 = 2 ohm

resistor)

b 0.06 0.03 2

c 0.08 0.04 2

1/Rp=(1/R1)+(1/R2) a 0.026 0.04 0.67 Rp=0.67

ohm
Parallel 1/Rp=1.5
combination ohm

Result

The calculated 1/Rp=(1/R1)+(1/R2)=1.5Ω

value of

1/Rp

The experimental 1/Rp=1.5Ω

value of

1/Rp

The equivalent resistance Rp is less than the

individual resistance.

Precautions
1. The connecting wires used should be thick copper wire and using sandpaper, the
insulation at the end of the wires should be removed.
2. The connections should be tight to avoid introducing external resistance.
3. To make connections, the circuit diagram should be referred to.
4. To make the current entry from the positive terminal and exit from the negative
terminal, the ammeter should be connected in series.
5. Resistor and voltmeter should be connected in parallel.
6. The least count of ammeter and voltmeter should be calculated properly.
7. When there is no current flow, the ammeter and voltmeter should be at zero.
8. To avoid heating and change the resistor’s resistance value, the current should
flow while taking the readings.