Lenses and Mirrors

Jennifer Doering, Kassidy Ha, Amanda Lee, Sophie Miller,

Sayra Soriano

Outline
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Basic Definitions and Background Concepts

Objective
Procedure
Predictions
Evaluation of Results
Sources of Error
Conclusion

Reflection vs. Refraction

Reflection: Light is reflected when it is returned into the medium from which it came and,
as the law of reflection states, the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.
Refraction: Light is refracted when it bends in an oblique way when passing from one
transparent medium to another.

Divergent vs. Convergent Lenses

Divergent Lens: A lens that is thinner in the middle than at the edges, causing parallel rays
to diverge as if from a point.
Converging Lens: A lens that is thicker in the middle than at the edges and that refracts
parallel rays to converge at a focus.
Divergent Lens

Convergent Lens

Objective
This labs objective was to study how light, lenses, and mirrors interact with
each other.

Procedure
Procedure A. Lightbox with biconcave (diverging) lens:
1. Using the Hodson light box, find the end of the light box without the mirrors.
Fit the card to the light box that produces three, narrow beams and place a
piece of white paper under the box and beam.
2. Place the lens that has two sides curving in towards each other (diverging) in
the light.
3. Trace the path of the light entering and exiting the lens.
4. Next, place a new sheet of paper under the light box and replace the diverging
lens with the lens that is thicker in the middle than it is at the edges
(converging).
5. Trace the path of the light entering and exiting the lens.
6. Locate the focal point where the three beams of light converge after exiting the
lens and measure the distance from the lens to the focal point.

Procedure (continued)
Procedure B. Lightbox with plane mirror and biconcave (diverging) lens:
1. Using the Hodson light box, find the end of the light box without the mirrors. Fit the
card to the light box that produces three, narrow beams and place a piece of white
paper under the box and beam.
2. Place the lens that has two sides curving in towards each other (diverging) in the
light. Place a mirror halfway along the beam path at an angle.
3. Trace the path of the light from the lightbox, entering and exiting the lens, and to the
mirror. Also trace the reflected light beams from the mirror
4. Draw a line perpendicular to the mirror at each point where the light hits the mirror.
5. Using a protractor, measure the angle of reflection (measure between the
perpendicular line and the line showing the reflecting path of the light). Also measure
the angle if incidence (measure between the perpendicular line and the incoming path
of the light). Record your measurements.
6. Rotate the mirror back and forth to see what affect this has on the angle of the
beams.

Procedure (continued)
Procedure C. Lightbox with converging and diverging lenses:
1. Place a new piece of paper under the lightbox.
2. Project a set of converging rays across your sheet of paper using a converging lens and the diverging
lens.
3. Trace the path of the light from the lightbox to the focal point.
4. Next, remove the diverging lens and trace the path of the light from the light box to the new focal
point using a different color pencil or pen.
5. Measure the distance from the light box to the focal point for each case above.
6. Now place a second converging lens on the other side of the first converging lens.
7. Trace the path of the light from the lightbox to the focal point measure the distance from the light
box to the focal point.
8. Place a new piece of paper under the light box. Add a plane mirror across the rays at an angle and
trace the paths of the rays before reflection and after.
9. While looking in the mirror at the reflection of the converging rays, lift the mirror and observe the
real converging rays. Remove and replace the mirror several times vertically, noting the similarity of
the real and the reflected rays.

Procedure (continued)
Procedure D. Lightbox with semi-circular mirror:
1. Place a new piece of paper under the light box and replace your lenses with a simicircular curved mirror.
2. Trace the incident rays and reflected rays and measure the distance from the
mirror to the focal point (the point where all the rays meet)
3. Compare this trace to the trace of the converging lens.

Predictions
Procedure A: 1. Before turning on the light box, for the first part of
procedure A, we predicted that the beams of light would diverge after
passing through the bi-concave lens. 2. For the second part of procedure A,
we predicted that the beams of light would converge after passing through
the convergent lens.
Procedure B: For procedure B, we predicted that the angle of incidence of
each beam would equal the angle of reflection of that beam, as stated by the
Law of Reflection (Fermats Principle of Least Time).

Predictions (continued)
Procedure C: 1. For the first part of C, we predicted that the beams would
neither converge nor diverge with the both the converging and diverging
lenses. 2. In the second part of C, we predicted that having the light pass
through two converging lenses would decrease the focal length. 3. Then, we
predicted that a near-sighted person would need a diverging lens to help
correct their vision. 4. For the last part of C, in which we placed a mirror at
an angle in the path of the beams before they converged, we predicted that
the focal length would remain the same, but the path of the light would be
reflected to continue at an angle.

Predictions (continued)
Procedure D: For procedure D, we predicted that the semicircular mirror
would cause the reflected beams to converge in front of the mirror.

Evaluation of Results
Procedure A: Our predictions were correct: the beams of light diverged
after passing through the bi-concave lens and for the second part of
procedure A, the beams of light did converge after passing through the
convergent lens.
Procedure B: Our prediction that the angle of incidence of each beam
would equal the angle of reflection of that beam was correct.

Evaluation of Results
Procedure C:
1. We incorrectly predicted that the beams would neither converge nor diverge
with the both the converging and diverging lenses. Instead, using the two
different types of lenses increased the focal length.
2. We incorrectly predicted that having the light pass through two converging
lenses would decrease the focal length when in fact the focal length remained
unchanged, though the angle at which the lights converged changed.
3. We correctly predicted that a near-sighted person would need a diverging lens
to help correct their vision.
4. We correctly predicted that the focal length would remain the same, but the
path of the light would be reflected to continue at an angle.
Procedure D:
1. We correctly predicted that the semicircular mirror would cause the reflected beams to
converge in front of the mirror.

Sources of Error

measurement error with ruler and protractor (especially in Procedure B)

inaccurate tracing of light beams leading to skewed measurements
shifting the components of the apparatus while tracing
inability to see beams due to environmental factors beyond our control
(light pollution)

Conclusion
Were the objectives met?
Yes, we feel that we gained an understanding of how light, lenses,
and mirrors interact with each other.
Recommendations and improvements:
Pull down the shades on the windows to decrease light pollution
Stick down the components of the apparatus while tracing