3. Refraction of Light

Refraction through a rectangular Glass slab

  • The ray of light enters from rarer to denser medium at point O that is from air to glass and bends towards the normal.
  • At ‘O’, the light ray enters from glass to air, that is, from a denser medium to a rarer medium. The light here bends away from normal.
  • The emergent ray is parallel to the incident ray. However the light ray shifts slightly sideward.
  • Refraction is due to change in speed of light when it enters from one medium to another.

 

Refraction of light: Bending of the light rays as it passes from one medium to another medium is known as refraction of light.
Laws of refraction

Two laws of reflection are:
(i) The incident ray, the refracted ray and the normal to the interface of two transparent media at the point of incidence, all lie in the same plane.
(ii) The ratio of sine of angle of incidence to the sine of angle of refraction is constant for the light of a given colour and for the given pair of media. This law is also known as Snell’s law of refraction

Refractive index: The extent of the change in direction of light that takes place in a given pair of media is expressed in terms of the refractive index. This can be expressed in an equation form as

Absolute refractive index: Refractive index of medium 2 with respect to vacuum is called the absolute refractive index of the medium. It is represented as n2.
Spherical lens: A transparent medium bound by two surfaces, of which one or both surfaces are curved is called a spherical lens.
Concave lens: It is a spherical lens in which two spherical surfaces bulge inwards. It is also called diverging lens.
Convex lens: It is a spherical lens in which two spherical surfaces bulge outwards. It is also called converging lens.

Refraction of light by spherical lens:

Image formation by Convex Lens
(i) When the object is at infinity

→ Image is formed at focus F2
→ Image is highly diminished or point-sized
→ Image is real and inverted

(ii) When the object is beyond 2F1

→ Image is formed between F2 and 2F2
→ Image is diminished
→ Image is real and inverted

(iii) When the object is at 2F1

→ Image is formed at 2F2
→ Image is same size as that of object
→ Image is real and inverted

(iv) When the object is between F1 and 2F1

→ Image is formed beyond 2F2
→ Image is enlarged
→ Image is real and inverted

(v) When the object is at focus F1

→ Image is formed at infinity
→ Image is infinitely large or highly enlarged
→ Image is real and inverted

(vi) When the object is between focus F1 and optical centre O

→ Image is formed on the same side of the lens as the object
→ Image is enlarged
→ Image is virtual and erect

2. Sign Convention of Mirror, Mirror Formula and Magnification

Sign Conventions of Spherical Mirror

  • All the distances are measured from the pole of the mirror as the origin.
  • Distances measured in the direction of incident rays are taken as positive.
  • Distances measured opposite to the direction of incident rays are taken as negative.
  • Distances measured upward and perpendicular to the principal axis are taken as positive.
  • Distances measured downward and perpendicular to the principal axis are taken as negative.
    1f=1v+1u …where f, v and u are focal length, image distance, object distance

Rules for reflection of rays by spherical mirrors

(i) A ray of light from the object, parallel to the principal axis, after refraction from a convex lens, passes through the principal focus on the other side of the lens. In case of a concave lens, the ray appears to diverge from the principal focus located on the same side of the lens.

 (ii) A ray of light passing through a principal focus, after refraction from a convex lens, will emerge parallel to the principal axis. A ray of light appearing to meet at the principal focus of a concave lens, after refraction, will emerge parallel to the principal axis.

(iii) A ray of light passing through the optical centre of a lens will emerge without any deviation. 

Mirror formula

where, v = Image distance
u = Object distance
f = Focal length

Magnification
The size of an image relative to the size of the object creating it. 

Linear magnification refers to the ratio of image length to object length measured in planes that are perpendicular to the optical axis. A negative value of linear magnification denotes an inverted image.

 Magnification of Spherical Mirrors

where, h' = Height of the image
and h = Height of the object
Note -The height of the image should be taken as positive for virtual images. However, it is to be taken as negative for real images.

1. Reflection of Light

Chapter 10

Light – reflection & refraction


REFLECTION
Reflection of Light: The phenomenon of bouncing back of light into the same medium by the smooth surface is called reflection.

Laws of Reflection:
There are two laws of reflection. They are:
(i) Angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.
(ii) The incident ray, the reflected ray and the normal at the point of incidence, all lie in the same plane.

Incident light: Light which falls on the surface is called incident light.
Reflected light: Light which goes back after reflection is called reflected light.
The angle of incidence: The angle between the incident ray and the normal.
An angle of reflection: The angle between the reflected ray and the normal.
Mirror: The surface which can reflect the light is a mirror.
Plane Mirror: If the reflecting surface is a plane then the mirror is plane.
Spherical Mirror: If the reflecting surface is part of the hollow sphere then the mirror is a spherical mirror.
The spherical mirror is of two types:

  • Convex mirror: In this mirror reflecting surface is convex. It diverges the light so it is also called a diverging mirror.
  • Concave mirror: In this mirror reflecting surface is concave. It converges the light so it is also called converging mirror.

Parameters of Mirror:

  • Centre of Curvature: The centre of hollow sphere of which mirror is a part.
  • The radius of curvature: The radius of hollow sphere of which mirror is a part.
  • Pole: The centre of mirror (middle point) is pole.
  • Principal axis: The line joining the pole and centre of curvature is called principal axis.
  • Aperture: Size of mirror is called aperture of mirror.
  • Principal Focus: The point on the principal axis, where all the incident rays parallel to principal axis converge or diverge after reflection through mirror.
  • Focal Length: The distance between pole and focus point is focal length.

Special Rays for Formation of Image:

  • A ray of light which is parallel to the principal axis of a spherical mirror, after reflection converges or diverges from focus.
  • A ray of light passing through or appearing from the centre of curvature of spherical mirror is reflected back along the same path.
  • A ray of light passing through or appearing from the focus of spherical mirror becomes parallel to the principal axis.
  • A ray of light which is incident at the pole of a spherical mirror is reflected back making same angle with principal axis.

Use of Concave Mirror: It is used as a makeup mirror, the reflector in torches, in headlights of cars and searchlights, doctor’s head-mirrors, solar furnace, etc.
Use of Convex Mirror: Convex mirror used as rear view mirror in vehicles, as shop security mirrors, etc.

4. Image Formation by Lenses, Lens Formula, Magnification and Lens Power

Image formation by Concave Lens

(i) When the object is at infinity

→ Image is formed at focus F1
→ Image is highly diminished or point sized
→ Image is virtual and erect

 (ii) When the object between infinity and optical centre O of lens

→ Image is formed between focus F1 and optical centre O
→ Image is diminished
→ Image is virtual and erect

Uses of Spherical lenses
In photographic cameras, magnifying glass, microscope, telescope, the human eye.

Sign convention for Spherical lenses

  • All distances, object distance (u), image distance (v) and focal length f are measured from the optical centre.
  • The distances measured in the direction of incident ray are taken as positive and distances measured against the direction of incident ray are taken as negative.
  • All distances (heights) of objects and images above principal axis are taken as positive and those below the principal axis are taken as negative.

 For the two lenses, the sign conventions take the form

  • u is- ve, if the object is in front of the lens. (Real object)
  • u is +ve, if the object is virtual.
  • v is – ve, if the image is on the same side as that of the object. (Virtual image )
  • v is +ve, if the image is real.
  • Focal length of a concave lens is taken as – ve.
  • Focal length of a convex lens is taken as +ve.

Lens formula  

Magnification

Power of a lens: The degree of convergence or divergence of light rays is expressed in terms of power. It is given as: P = 1/f 
→ The SI unit of power is dioptre (D).
→ Power of convex lens is positive.
→ Power of concave lens is negative.