Physics Department

Faculty of Science
An-Najah National University

Experimental Lab Manual

10221213

Dr. Muna Hajj Yahya

Mohammed Bashar
 1. Determination of the focal length of the given biconvex lens .
2. Determination of the focal length of the given biconcave lens .
3. Determination of the focal length of the given concave mirror .

Biconvex lens, biconcave lens, concave mirror , lens holders an object with a light
source, a scaled track and a screen.

A lens is a piece of glass or other transparent material shaped so that it can produce an
image by refracting light that comes from an object. Lenses are used for many
purposes (in eye classes to improve vision, in cameras to record senses). Lenses are of
two kinds, converging and diverging, a converging lens is thicker in the middle than
at it is; a diverging lens is thinner in the middle as shown in Fig. (1(a,b)),a converging
lens brings a parallel beam of light to a single focal point (F),here F is called a real
focal point because the light rays pass through it and the distance from the lens to (F)
is called the focal length of the lens.

Convex lens:
There are several ways to measure the focal length of a convex lens. The easiest way
is to allow light rays far away (infinity) to fall on the lens so that they will be refracted
into the focal point. The distance between this point and the lens is the focal length of
the lens. You can use the sun light if reachable or the light from the fluorescent tube
in the ceiling of the lab.

 Measuring the object distance (o) from the lens and the corresponding image
distance (i) . and by applying the lens equation (eq.1), the focal length (f) can be
determined .

1 1 1
+ = eq.1
o f i

Note that o is negative since it is measured to the left of the lens while
I is positive according to the Cartesian sign convention.
Transverse magnification:

This kind of magnification known as transverse or lateral magnification Mt , is defined

as the ratio of image size (y') to object size (y) , which means :

Y' i
MT= = eq.2
Y o

Position of the Position of the Nature of the Size of the

Application
object image image image
Between O and on the same side Erect and Magnifying lens (simple microscope), eye
Magnified
F1 of the lens virtual piece of many instruments
Inverted and
At 2F1 At 2F2 Same size Photocopying camera
real
Between F and Beyond 2F2 Inverted and Magnified Projectors, objectives of microscope
Position of the Position of the Nature of the Size of the
Application
object image image image
2F1 real
Inverted and
At F1 At infinity Magnified Theatre spot lights
real
Between F2 and Inverted and
Beyond 2F1 Diminished Photocopying (reduction camera)
2F2 real
Inverted and
At infinity At F2 Diminished Objective of a telescope
real

Concave lens:
As we know lenses are made of two curved surfaces, mostly spherical. If the curved
surfaces are sunk inside the plane of the lens, then the lens is called as concave lens. 
If both the surfaces are curved and concave inside, then the lens is called Biconcave
Lens or Double Concave Lens or simply called as ‘concave lens’. If one of the
surfaces is plain, then the concave lens is called Plano Concave Lens.
Because the rays always diverged by a concave lens, the emerging rays do not
actually intersect. But they deem to intersect on the incidence side by tracing
backwards the emerging rays. Hence concave lens images are always virtual images.
The thin lens formula in general is stated as.

1 1 1 v∗w
+ = ∨f = eq.3
v f w v−w

Concave mirror:
A concave mirror has a shape with a thinner middle and thicker sides in relation to a
flat plane. People who cannot see objects in focus at a distance but can see objects
close up (nearsightedness or myopia) use concave lenses to bring the farther objects in
focus. Now look at your spoon again from the other side. You will see that the sides
curve up closer to you and the middle is farther away from your eye. You will also see
that your image is upside down. This business side of a spoon represents a concave
mirror.

Part 1: Determination of the focal length of the given biconvex lens.

Method (1):
1. Hold the convex lens with your hand and form a clear image of the light fixed
at the ceiling on the ground.
2. Measure the distance between the lens and the image which is the focal length.

Method (2) :

1. Adjust the convex lens in front of the object (the arrow light illuminated by the
source) at a distance (say 15cm) more than the focal length obtained in the
previous part.
2. Move the screen on the other side of the lens so that you find the clearest
image.
3. Record the object and the image distances.
4. Move the lens 2 cm away from the object and again find the best image.
Record the new distance values.
5. Keep repeating step 4 in steps of 2cm until you get 8 different distances.
6. Record all your measured values in a suitable table.
7. Use eq. (1) and make a plot of 1li versus 1/o and find the focal length of the
lens.

Part 2: studying the transverse magnification.

In this part, transverse magnification has to be studied. For doing that, do the
following.

1. redo steps I to 6 in method 2 above but for each object and image positions,
measure the image size y' instead of distances from the lens.
2. Arrange your measured data in a suitable table. Note that you do this part
while doing method 2 can above.
i
3. Make a plot of y' as a function of and from the slope determine the
o
object size (y).
4. What conclusions you can get from this plot?

Part 3: Determination of the focal length of the given biconcave lens.

1. Locate the convex lens at about 30cm from the source as in fig. (5)
2. Move the screen on the other side until you obtain a clear image.
 3. Measure the distance (T) between the lens and the screen (screen position1
record it in table . Try to have this value fixed through this part.
4. Put the concave lens between the convex lens and the screen, at closest
distance to the screen.
5. Move the screen away from the concave lens until you get a clear image.
6. Record the distance (d) between the two lenses. Accordingly, calculate the
object distance V d and register the obtained values in table.
7. Measure the distance between the screen and the concave lens which is the
image distance (W), and record it in table.
8. Move the concave lens a distance 0.5cm away from the screen. Record the
new (d) value.
9. Again, slide the screen away from the concave lens in order to obtain a clear
image. Record the new image value (W) in table.
10. Keep repeating points 8 and 9 in steps of 0.5 cm until you obtain 8 different
values.
11. Calculate the value of (f in the last column of table (1) and take the average
value.
12. Make a plot of 1/W versus 1/V (eq. (4)) and obtain the value of the focal
length (f).
13. Compare the value of the focal length obtained from the y-intercept to the
average value calculated in table.

Part 4: Determination of the focal length of the given concave mirror .

Method 1:

1. Hold the concave mirror with your hand and form a clear image of the
light fixed at the ceiling on a piece of paper. You might turn the mirror a
bit off axis to do that.
2. Determine the distance from the mirror to the image which will be the
focal length.
Method 2:

1. Put the concave mirror on the holder in front of the light source at
about 10 to 12 cm.
2. Try to have the reflected image at the front face of the light source. In
order to see the image you might turn the mirror a bit off axis so that
the image is near the objet.
3. When the image is of the same size as the object, measure the
distance between the source and the mirror. This distance will be the
radius of curvature of the mirror and is equal to 2f.
 For the first and second part, finding the focal length of biconvex lens and
studying the transverse magnification:
Part1:

1. By method 1 :
We got that the focal length is equal to 10cm.
2. By method 2:
We got:

i 1/i o 1/o Y'

26 0.038 -15 -0.066 1.4
20 0.05 -17 -0.058 1
18.5 0.054 -19 -0.052 0.9
16.5 0.0606 -21 -0.047 0.8
15.5 0.0645 -23 -0.043 0.7
14.5 0.069 -25 -0.04 0.6
14 0.071 -27 -0.037 0.5
13.3 0.074 -29 -0.034 0.5

0.08
f(x) = 1.1 x + 0.11 0.07
0.06
0.05
1/i (1/cm)

0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
-0.07 -0.07 -0.06 -0.06 -0.05 -0.05 -0.04 -0.04 -0.03
1/o (1/cm)

1
From the curve the y-intercept is =
f
F=1/.1121=8.9 cm.

From the two method we got the two values we obtained are approx the same

Part 2 :
 1.6
1.4
f(x) = − 0.72 x + 0.18
1.2
1
y' (cm)

0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
-1.8 -1.6 -1.4 -1.2 -1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2

i/o (1/cm)

y'
From the curve the slope = i =y =0.7206 cm
o

Part 3 :

finding the focal length of biconcave lens :

s T d V=T-d w 1/w 1/v

30 14 12 2 15 0.06 0.5
11.5 2.5 21.5 0.046 0.4
11 3 28 0.035 0.33
10.5 3.5 33.5 0.029 0.28
10 4 46.5 0.021 0.25

0.07
0.06
f(x) = 0.16 x − 0.02
1/w (1/cm)

0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55

1/v (1/cm)

From the curve the y-intercept =1/f

 Slope =-0.017 =1/f
F=-58.8 cm.

Part 4:

finding the focal length of concave mirror .

1. Method 1 :
It doesn't give any result .
2. Method 2 :
We got that the focal length =10cm

We found the focal length of the concave lens, convex lens, and concave mirrors in several
ways.
The focal length of the convex lens is negative and is the lens only by gathering light.
The camera lens distinguishes the light.
1- Define the refractive index of the material?

In optics, the refractive index or index of refraction n of a material is a dimensionless

number that describes how light propagates through that medium. It is defined as
c
n=
v

where c is the speed of light in vacuum and v is the phase velocity of light in the
medium.

2- What is the value of the refractive index of air and of vacuum?

The index of refraction of vacuum equal 1

The index of refraction of air approximately equal to 1.

3- Are there refractive indices more than 2 and more than 3? If YES, mention at
least one material with its refractive index above 2 and another above 3?

No.

4- What do we mean by biconvex and biconcave lenses? What other types of

lenses exist?

5- Make a drawing showing the formation of images in a convex lens compared

to a
concave mirror for the five following situations. ln each case describe the
image:
• The object distance is more that the radius of curvature.
• The object is at the center of curvature.
• The object is between the center and the focus.
• The object is at the focus.
• The object is between the focus and the surface of the lens

6- Repeat question 5 above for a concave lens compared to a convex mirror.

7- ln method 2 to determine the focal length of the convex lens, why must the
distance of the object from the lens be more than its focal length?