Light Reflection and Refraction

Sign convention for reflection by spherical mirrors: New Magnification: It is defined as relative extent to which an object is Refractive Index: When light passes from one medium to
cartesian sign convention is used to give sign convention magnified in comparison to its object size. another medium, it changes its direction. The extent to which
used for spherical mirrors. The conventions are as follows- the direction changes is expressed in terms of refractive
index. The value of refractive index is dependent on the
The object is always placed to the left of the mirror. speed of light in two media. v1 is the speed of light in medium
1 and v2 is the speed of light in medium 2. The refractive
All distances parallel to the principal axis are measured Refraction of light: Bending of the light rays as it passes from one index of medium 2 with respect to medium 1 is represented
from the pole of the mirror. medium to another medium is known as refraction of light. as n21.

All the distances measured to the right of the origin (along Laws of Refraction
+ x-axis) are taken as positive while those measured to the
• Incident ray, refracted ray and normal all lie in the same If medium 1 is vacuum or air, then the refractive index of
left of the origin (along – x-axis) are taken as negative.
plane. medium 2 with respect to vacuum is known as absolute
refractive index of the medium.
Distances measured perpendicular to and above the • The ratio of sine of angle of incidence to the sine of angle of
principal axis (along + y-axis) will be taken as positive. refraction is constant. This law is also known as Snell’s law of

Distances measured perpendicular to and below the

principal axis (along –y-axis) will be taken as negative. refraction. Where c is the speed of light in air, v is the speed of light in
other medium and nm is the refractive index of the medium.

Image formation by Concave Mirror Image formation by Convex Mirror

Two positions of the object are considered while understanding the image formed by convex
mirror. Either the object should be at infinity or at finite distance from the mirror. Formation
of the image by the convex mirror are as follows-

Ray diagram for the image formation by concave mirror

Position of the
Position of the image Size of the image Nature of the image
object
At infinity At the focus F Highly diminished Real and inverted Ray diagram for the image formation by convex mirror
Beyond C Between F and C Diminished Real and inverted
At C At C Same size Real and inverted Size of the
Nature of
Position of the object Position of the image
Between C and F Beyond C Enlarged Real and inverted image the image
At the focus F, behind Highly Virtual and
At F At infinity Highly enlarged Real and inverted At infinity
the mirror diminished
erect
Between P and F Behind the mirror Enlarged Virtual and erect
Between infinity and the pole Between P and F, Virtual and
Nature, relative size and position of the image formed by concave mirror Diminished
P of the mirror behind the mirror erect
Uses of Concave Mirror: Used in search lights, torches, head lights of the vehicles. Also Nature, relative size and position of the image formed by convex mirror
used in shaving mirrors. Used by dentists also to see larger image of the teeth. Other Uses of Convex Mirror: They are used as rear-view mirrors. They are used to see the traffic
use in solar furnaces. behind. They are preferred as they give erect but diminished image.

Image formed by the Convex Lens for various positions of the Refraction by Spherical Lenses Sign convention for Spherical Lenses: Sign
object convention are used as similar for spherical
Lenses are defined as transparent materials which are
mirrors. But the focal length of a convex lens
bounded by two surfaces, out of which one or both can
is positive and that of concave lens in
be spherical. When both the two spherical surfaces
negative.
bulge outwards, it is known as convex lens. They
converge the light rays. When the two spherical Lens formula and magnification: The lens
surfaces bulge inwards, they are known as concave lens. formula is given as
They are known as diverging lens. The centre of these
spherical surfaces is known as centre of curvature,
represented by C.

Any imaginary straight line passing through the centre Where, u is object distance, v is image
of curvature of a lens is known as principal axis. The distance and f is focal length.
centre point is known as optical centre. The effective
diameter of the spherical lens is known as aperture. The ratio of the height of an image to the
height of an object is defined as
Image formation by lenses magnification.
Nature, relative size, and position of the image formed Magnification is represented by m, h0 is the
by convex lens are given below in the form of table- height of the object and hi is the height of
the image.
Position of Position of Relative size Nature of the
the object the image of the image image
Highly Real and
At infinity At focus F2
diminished inverted
Between Real and Power of a Lens: The degree of convergence
Image formed by the Concave Lens Beyond 2F1 Diminished
F2 and 2F2 inverted or divergence of light rays is expressed in
Real and terms of power. So, the reciprocal of focal
At 2F1 At 2F2 Same size
inverted length is known as its power. It is
Between Real and represented by letter P. The power is given
Beyond 2F2 Enlarged
F1 and 2F1 inverted
by-
Infinitely Real and
At focus F1 At infinity
large inverted P = 1/f
Between On the same
focus F1 and side of the Virtual and The SI unit of power is dioptre. It is
Enlarged represented by D. Power of concave lens is
optical centre lens as the erect
O object negative and power of convex lens is
positive.