“Ray

Page | 1
Sl.N
Topic Pg. No
o
1 Index 2

2 Certificate 3

3 Acknowledgement 4

4 Objective 5
Reflection of Light by spherical
5 6
mirrors
6 Sign Convention 7

7 Focal Length of Spherical Mirrors 8

8 The Mirror Formula 9

9 Magnification 10
Image formation by spherical
19 11
mirrors
11 Refraction 15

12 Refraction by Spherical Lenses 16

Image formation by Spherical
13 17
Lenses
14 Power of Lens 20

15 The Eye 22

16 Bibliography 26

Page | 2
INTERNATIONAL INDIAN SCHOOL,
RIYADH

Page | 3
I would like to express my deepest gratitude
to all those who have helped me complete
this school project successfully.
I am extremely thankful to my project guide,
Mrs. Jaseela, my Physics teacher, for
invaluable guidance, encouragement and
support throughout this project. She
provided me direction, reviewed my
progress and results, and helped me clarify
my doubts. I sincerely appreciate the time
and effort she put into supervising my
project.
My special thanks to my family, they
encouraged me at every step, and helped
me manage my time effectively. Their faith
in my abilities inspired me to take on this
project.

Page | 4
 Ray optics in physics, is the study of all
characteristics of light that are connected
to rectilinear light propagation. Rectilinear
light propagation occurs when light travels
in a straight path in a homogenous
medium. The study of Ray Optics employs
lenses and mirrors that employ reflection
and refraction concepts. Nature has
endowed the human eye (retina) with the
sensitivity to detect electromagnetic
waves within a small range of the
electromagnetic spectrum.
Electromagnetic radiation belonging to
this region of the spectrum (wavelength of
about 400 nm to 750 nm) is called light. It
is mainly through light and the sense of
vision that we know and interpret the
world around us

Page | 5
Bouncing back of light to the same medium. Change in
direction of light, without any change in medium.
Laws of Reflection
1) angle of incidence is always equal to angle of
reflection
(i = r)
2) incident ray, reflected ray and the normal at the point
of incidence all lie in the same plane

Deviation in Reflection
Angle between directions of incident ray and reflected
ray is called angle of deviation (d).

Page | 6
To derive the relevant formulae for reflection by
spherical mirrors and refraction by spherical lenses,
we must first adopt a sign convention for measuring
distances. For this, we follow the Cartesian sign
convention. According to this convention, all
distances are measured from the pole of the mirror or
the optical center of the lens. The distances
measured in the same direction as the incident
light are taken as positive and those measured in
the direction opposite to the direction of
incident light are taken as negative. The heights
measured upwards with respect to x-axis and normal
to the principal axis (x-axis) of the mirror/ lens are
taken as positive. The heights measured downwards
are taken as negative. With a common accepted
convention, it turns out that a single formula for
spherical mirrors and a single formula for spherical
lenses can handle all different cases.

Page | 7
The figure shows what happens when a parallel beam
of light is incident on (a) a concave mirror, and (b) a
convex mirror. We assume that the rays are paraxial,
i.e., they are incident at points close to the pole P of
the mirror and make small angles with the principal
axis. The reflected rays converge at a point F on the
principal axis of a concave mirror. For a convex
mirror, the reflected rays appear to diverge from a
point F on its principal axis. The point F is called the
principal focus of the mirror. The distance between
the focus F and the pole P of the mirror is called the
focal length of the mirror, denoted by f.
f = R/2,
where R is the radius of curvature of the mirror.

Page | 8
If rays emanating from a point actually meet at
another point after reflection and/or refraction, that
point is called the image of the first point. The image
is real if the rays actually converge to the point; it is
virtual if the rays do not actually meet but appear to
diverge from the point when produced backwards. An
image is thus a point-to-point correspondence with
the object established through reflection and/or
refraction. In principle, we can take any two rays
emanating from a point on an object, trace their
paths, find their point of intersection and thus, obtain
the image of the point due to reflection at a spherical
mirror. In practice, however, it is convenient to
choose any two of the following rays: (i) The ray from
the point which is parallel to the principal axis. The
reflected ray goes through the focus of the mirror.
(ii) The ray passing through the center of curvature of
a concave mirror or appearing to pass through it for a
convex mirror. The reflected ray simply retraces the
path.
(iii) The ray passing through (or directed towards)
the focus of the concave mirror or appearing to pass
through (or directed towards) the focus of a convex
mirror. The reflected ray is parallel to the principal
axis.
(iv) The ray incident at any angle at the pole. The
reflected ray follows laws of reflection. Page | 9
Magnification produced by a spherical mirror gives
the relative extent to which the image of an object
is magnified with respect to the object size. It is
expressed as the ratio of the height of the image
to the height of the object. It is usually represented
by the letter m. If h is the height of the object and
h′ is the height of the image, then the
magnification m produced by a spherical mirror is
given by

Page | 10
The magnification m is also related to the object
distance (u) and image distance (v). It can be
expressed as:

Page | 11
USES OF CONCAVE MIRRORS
Concave mirrors are commonly used in torches,
search-lights and vehicles headlights to get
powerful parallel beams of light. They are often
used as shaving mirrors to see a larger image of
the face. The dentists use concave mirrors to see
large images of the teeth of patients. Large
concave mirrors are used to concentrate sunlight
to produce heat in solar furnaces.

Page | 12
Uses of convex mirrors
Convex mirrors are commonly used as rear-view
(wing) mirrors in vehicles. These mirrors are fitted
on the sides of the vehicle, enabling the driver to
see traffic behind him/her to facilitate safe driving.
Convex mirrors are preferred because they always
give an erect, though diminished, image. Also, they
have a wider field of view as they are curved
outwards. Thus, convex mirrors enable the driver
Page | 13
to view much larger area than would be possible
with a plane mirror.

Page | 14
When a beam of light encounters another
transparent medium, a part of light gets reflected
back into the first medium while the rest enters
the other. A ray of light represents a beam. The
direction of propagation of an obliquely incident
ray of light that enters the other medium, changes
at the interface of the two media. This
phenomenon is called refraction of light.
Snell experimentally obtained the following laws
of refraction:
(i) The incident ray, the refracted ray and the
normal to the interface at the point of
incidence, all lie in the same plane.
(ii) The ratio of the sine of the angle of
incidence to the sine of angle of refraction
is constant.

Page | 15
A transparent material bound by two surfaces, of
which one or both surfaces are spherical, forms a
lens. This means that a lens is bound by at least
one spherical surface. In such lenses, the other
surface would be plane. A lens may have two
spherical surfaces, bulging outwards. Such a lens
is called a double convex lens. It is simply called a
convex lens. It is thicker at the middle as
compared to the edges. A double concave lens is
bounded by two spherical surfaces, curved
inwards. It is thicker at the edges than at the
middle. Such lenses diverge light rays. Such
lenses are called diverging lenses. A double
concave lens is simply called a concave lens. A
lens, either a convex lens or a concave lens, has
two spherical surfaces. Each of these surfaces
forms a part of a sphere. The centres of these
spheres are called centres of curvature of the lens.
The centre of curvature of a lens is usually
represented by the letter C. An imaginary straight
line passing through the two centres of curvature
of a lens is called its principal axis. The central
point of a lens is its optical centre. It is usually
represented by the letter O. A ray of light through
the optical centre of a lens passes without
suffering any deviation. The effective diameter of
the circular outline of a spherical lens is called its
aperture.
Page | 16
Page | 17
Page | 18
SIGN CONVENTION FOR SPHERICAL
LENSES
For lenses, we follow sign conventions, similar to
the one used for spherical mirrors. We apply the
rules for signs of distances, except that all
measurements are taken from the optical centre of
the lens. According to the convention, the focal
length of a convex lens is positive and that of a
concave lens is negative. Care must be taken to
apply appropriate signs for the values of u, v, f,
object height h and image height h′.
Lens Formula and Magnification
As we have a formula for spherical mirrors, we also
have formula for spherical lenses. This formula
gives the relationship between object distance (u),
image-distance (v) and the focal length (f). The
lens formula is expressed as

The lens formula given above is general and is

valid in all situations for any spherical lens.
MAGNIFICATION
The magnification produced by a lens, similar to
that for spherical mirrors, is defined as the ratio of
the height of the image and the height of the
object. It is represented by the letter m.
Page | 19
If h is the height of the object and h′ is the height of
the image given by a lens, then the magnification
produced by the lens is given by,

Magnification produced by a lens is also related to

the object-distance u, and the image-distance v.
This relationship is given by

The degree of convergence or divergence of light

rays achieved by a lens is expressed in terms of
its power. The power of a lens is defined as the
reciprocal of its focal length. It is represented by
the letter P. The power P of a lens of focal length f
is given by

Page | 20
The SI unit of power of a lens is ‘dioptre’. It is
denoted by the letter D. If f is expressed in
metres, then, power is expressed in dioptres.
Thus, 1 dioptre is the power of a lens whose focal
length is 1 metre. 1D = 1m–1. You may note that
the power of a convex lens is positive and that of
a concave lens is negative. Opticians prescribe
corrective lenses indicating their powers. Let us
say the lens prescribed has power equal to + 2.0
D. This means the lens prescribed is convex. The
focal length of the lens is + 0.50 m. Similarly, a
lens of power – 2.5 D has a focal length of – 0.40
m. The lens is concave.

Page | 21
Light enters the eye
through a curved
front surface, the
cornea. It passes
through the pupil
which is the central
hole in the iris. The
size of the pupil can
change under control of muscles. The light is
further focused by the eye lens on the retina. The
retina is a film of nerve fibers covering the curved
back surface of the eye. The retina contains rods
and cones which sense light intensity and color,
respectively, and transmit electrical signals via the
optic nerve to the brain which finally processes this
information. The focal length of the lens can be
modified somewhat by the ciliary muscles. For
example, when the muscle is relaxed, the focal
length is about 2.5 cm and objects at infinity are in
sharp focus on the retina. When the object is
brought closer to the eye, in order to maintain the
same image-lens distance the focal length of the
eye lens becomes shorter by the action of the

Page | 22
ciliary muscles. This property of the eye is called
accommodation.

If the object is too close to the eye, the lens cannot

curve enough to focus the image on to the retina,
and the image is blurred. The closest distance for
which the lens can focus light on the retina is
called the least distance of distinct vision, or the
near point. The standard value for normal vision is
taken as 25 cm. (Often the near point is given the
symbol D.) This distance increases with age,
because of the decreasing effectiveness of the
ciliary muscle and the loss of flexibility of the lens.
Page | 23
The near point may be as close as about 7 to 8 cm
in a child ten years of age, and may increase to as
much as 200 cm at 60 years of age. Thus, if an
elderly person tries to read a book at about 25 cm
from the eye, the image appears blurred. This
condition (defect of the eye) is called presbyopia. It
is corrected by using a converging lens for reading.
Thus, our eyes are marvelous organs that have the
capability to interpret incoming electromagnetic
waves as images through a complex process.
These are our greatest assets and we must take
proper care to protect them. Imagine the world
without a pair of functional eyes. Yet many
amongst us bravely face this challenge by
effectively overcoming their limitations to lead a
normal life. They deserve our appreciation for their
courage and conviction. In spite of all precautions
and proactive action, our eyes may develop some
defects due to various reasons. For example, the
light from a distant object arriving at the eye-lens
may get converged at a point in front of the retina.
This type of defect is called nearsightedness or
myopia. This means that the eye is producing too
much convergence in the incident beam. To
compensate this, we interpose a concave lens
between the eye and the object, with the diverging
effect desired to get the image focused on the
retina

Page | 24
Page | 25
NCERT Class X Textbook of Science
NCERT Class XII Textbook of Physics
Textbook of Physics (IInd year), Brilliant
Publications
www.wikipedia.com
www.byjus.com

Page | 26
Page | 27
Page | 28