Lab Report 2: The basics of Ray Optics

Name: Puja Saha

Date: 10/03/18

Introduction:
A lens is a piece of glass or other transparent substance with curved sides for concentrating or
dispersing light rays, used singly (as in a magnifying glass) or with other lenses (as in a telescope).
Lenses are commonly used to form images by refraction in optical instruments such as telescopes
and cameras. Images created with concave mirrors are always real and inverted. A converging
mirror is concave, while a diverging mirror is convex.
The purpose of this experiment is to determine whether the material of the two converging lenses
is the same, in other word, if they have the same index of refraction. Along with that to build a
telescope using two converging lenses. We interacted the lensmaker’s equation, the thin lens
equations and determined the object distance, image distance and the focal length of the lenses to
calculate the index of refraction
Thin lens equation:
1 1 1
+ =
𝑝 𝑖 𝑓
Lensmaker’s equation:
1 1 1
= (𝑛 − 1) ( − )
𝑓 𝑅1 𝑅2
where f represents the focal length of the lens, p represents the object location and q represents the
image location.

Procedure:
Materials used:

 1 Incandescent source box w/ power supply.

 Index Card
 2 Converging lenses
 1 Screen
 12" Ruler
 Track
 2 lens holders
Experiment 1: Index of refraction investigation

 For this experiment, both lenses were used to find the index of refraction in order to
determine whether both lenses were made up of same material. First, place one of the lens
holder in between the light source and screen.
  Place the thicker lens on the lens holder
 Turn on the power of the incandescent source and move it around the track in order to get
a proper picture on the screen
 After getting the proper image of the object, measure the distance between the lens holder
and the screen which is the image distance (i) and also measure the distance between the
lens holder and the light source which gives the object distance (p).
 Repeat the same process for the thinner lens and calculated the index of refraction using
the lens equation and lensmaker’s equation.
Experiment 2: Build a Telescope
Telescope eyepiece:
 We started with the thick lens first and placed it in between the light source and the screen.
Light will be shown through a small glass disc inscribed with ruled markings. Since we are
using two lens system, the image for the 1st lens becomes the object for the second lens.
 We then moved the light source to the place where the image was formed and then placed
the 2nd thin lens between the light source and the screen. During these procedures, we
calculated the image distance and object distance 2 times.
Assembled telescope:
 In the final part of this experiment, the eyepiece and objective are combined into a working
telescope. To do this, the two lenses are arranged along the axis in such a way that their
inside focal lengths coincide.
 A magnified image of a distance object can then be viewed through the lens with the
shorter focal length (the eyepiece). In this experiment, magnification of the distant object
was determined by comparing the size of a full meter stick seen without the telescope to
the portion of the scale readable when viewed through the telescope.
 Observing the size of the image created will allow calculation of the lens’ magnification.
Results for magnification where observed at intermediate (a few focal lengths) and long
(many focal lengths) distances.
Data/results:

Experiment 1: Calculation of index of refraction of both lens

A thick lens is more curved, that is, it has a smaller radius of curvature. The refractions
taking place on both the surfaces of the lens need to be taken into consideration, which can
make calculations quite complex.

A thin lens is less curved, that is, it has a larger radius of curvature. In a thin lens, the
distance between it's curved surfaces is negligible compared to it's focal length, and the
path of a ray of light can be predicted quite easily, without taking into consideration the
refraction at both the surfaces of the lens.
Thin lens:

Image distance, i = 33.5 cm

Object distance, p = 48 cm

1 1 1
=p+
f i

1 1 1
= 48 + 33.5 = 0.050684 𝑐𝑚-1
𝑓

R1 = -R2 = 20.7 cm
1 1 1
= (𝑛 − 1) (𝑅1 − 𝑅2)
𝑓

n1 = 1.5
Thick lens:
Image distance, i = 35 cm

Object distance, p = 16 cm

1 1 1
=p+
f i

1 1 1
= 35 + 16 = 0.09107 𝑐𝑚-1
𝑓

R1 = -R2 = 10.3 cm

1 1 1
= (𝑛 − 1) (𝑅1 − 𝑅2)
𝑓

n2 = 1.46 = 1.5
Since, n1 = n2, it can be concluded that the lenses were made up of the same material.
Experiment 2: Calculation of magnification of the telescope
Focal length of the objective lens f0 = 19.73 cm

Focal length of the eyepiece fe = 10.98 cm

Magnification = -Focal length of the objective lens / Focal length of the eyepiece

𝑓
𝑀 = − 𝑓𝑜
𝑒

19.73 𝑐𝑚
M = 10.98 𝑐𝑚
M =-1.79

Report question:
1) Find a table of n values on the internet and see if you can determine the exact type of material.

From the 1st experiment, we got index of refraction, n = 1.5 and from the graph, we can determine
type of material is glass.
2. Make sure to include a ray diagram showing how you produced the images.


3. Draw a ray diagram of the telescope.


Conclusion:
In the 1st experiment, we determine whether the index of refraction of two converge lens are same.
We interacted the lensmaker’s equation, the thin lens equations and determined the object distance,
image distance and the focal length of the lenses to calculate the index of refraction. For both of
the lenses, we get the index of refraction 1.5 which conclude that both lenses were made up of
same material which is glass. For the second experiment we used both lenses to create a telescope
and calculated the magnification. The image was inverted and magnified by 1.79.