6.5.3

Images & Ray Diagrams

Test yourself

Images Produced by a Lens

Convex lenses produce images that are either real or virtual. Concave lenses only produce virtual images.

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Convex lenses

  • Convex lenses produce images that are either real or virtual.
  • A real image appears on the other side of the lens to the object. We can project real images onto a screen.
  • A virtual image appears on the same side of the object. We cannot project virtual images onto a screen.
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Magnification

  • We can use this equation to calculate the magnification a lens produces:
    • magnification = image height ÷ object height
  • Magnification is a ratio. It has no units.
  • We should measure the image’s height and object’s height in either mm or cm.
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Concave lenses

  • Concave lenses only produce virtual images.
  • A virtual image appears on the same side of the object. We cannot project virtual images onto a screen.

Ray Diagrams

We use ray diagrams to show how convex and concave lenses form images.

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Convex lens

  • In ray diagrams, we use this symbol for a convex lens.
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Concave lens

  • In ray diagrams, we use this symbol for a concave lens.

Jump to other topics

1Energy

2Electricity

3Particle Model of Matter

4Atoms & Radiation

5Forces

6Waves

7Magnetism

8Astrophysics

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