UNIVERSITY of GUYANA

Turkeyen Campus, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, P.O. Box 101110, Guyana, South America
Website: uog.edu.gy
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FACULTY OF NATURAL SCIENCES

Department of Mathematics, Physics & Statistics
Tel: + (592) 222-4926

PHY 1104 – Fundamentals of Physics (Recess 2020)

Lecturer: Mr Samuel Lee

Assignment # 3: Geometrical Optics
(Electronic Copy is Due Monday September 28, 2020)

Instructions to Students:
Attempt two (2) questions. This assignment is to be type-written or scanned then submitted as a
portable document (pdf). For type-written documents formatting is as follows: font theme – Times
New Roman; font size – 12; spacing – 1.0.

Physical Constant(s): Absolute refractive index of glass = 1.50; Absolute refractive index of
water = 1.33; Speed of light in a vacuum = 3.0 × 108 ms-1.
1. Two plane mirrors of length 0.5 m and 20.0 cm apart are placed with their reflecting
surfaces facing each other. If a ray of light were incident at the tip of one of the mirrors at
an angle of incidence 450, how many reflections would this ray suffer before leaving the
mirror system? (3)
2. A man 2.0 m tall, whose eye level is 1.84 m above the ground, looks at his image in a
vertical mirror. With the aid of a diagram, determine the minimum vertical length of the
mirror and the distance its lower edge must be above the floor if the man is to be able to
see his entire body provided he stands erect. (1.0 m; .92 cm)
3. A ray of light strikes a plane mirror at an angle of incidence 450. The mirror undergoes a
rotation of 150 into a new position, while the incident ray is kept fixed. What are the angle
of reflection and the angle through which the reflected ray is rotated? If the angle of
incidence is made 600 instead of 450, what is the angle of rotation of the reflected ray?
(600; 300)
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4. A light wave has a frequency of 5.09 × 10 Hz in water and diamond of refractive index
2.42. What is the wavelength of this light in each medium? (4.4 × 10-7 m; (2.4 × 10-7 m)
5. A layer of oil (no = 1.45) floats on an unknown liquid. A ray of light shines from the oil
into the unknown liquid. The angles of incidence and refraction are respectively, 65 0 and
530. What is the refractive index of the unknown liquid and the speed of light in both
liquids? (1.7; 2.0 × 108 ms-1; 1.8 × 108 ms-1)
6. A ray of monochromatic light is incident at an angle of 300 on a prism of which the
refractive index is 1.52. What is the maximum refracting angle of the prism if the light is
just to emerge from the opposite face? (600)
7. A small logo is embedded in a thick block of crown glass (n = 1.52), 3.2 cm beneath the
top of the glass. The block is put under water, so there is 1.5 cm of water above the top of
the surface of the block. An observer in air views the logo directly above. How far beneath
the top surface of the water does the logo appear to be? (3.2 cm)
8. An optical fibre consists of a glass core of refractive index 1.60 and a glass cladding of
refractive index 1.40. What is the minimum angle of incidence that a ray of light in the
glass core must make at the core-cladding boundary to suffer total internal reflection?
(620)
9. If a concave mirror has a focal length of 10.0 cm, find the two positions where an object
can be placed to give, in each case, an image twice the size of the object. (5 cm; 15 cm)
10. When an object is placed 15 cm from a concave mirror, a real image four times the size of
the object is formed. Determine the focal length of the mirror and where the object must
be placed to produce a virtual image four times the height of the object. (12 cm; 9 cm)
11. An object is placed (i) 12 cm, (ii) 4 cm from a converging lens of focal length 6 cm.
Calculate the image position and magnification in each case.
(12 cm on opposite side; 1; 6 cm on same side; 1.5)
12. An object is placed 50.0 cm in front of a concave lens producing an image half its size.
Determine the focal length of the lens. (-25 cm)