To find the focal length of concave mirror

A PHYSICS PROJECT REPORT

SUBMITTED BY
JOHN RUFUS.D,CLASS XII

SRIMATHI SUNDARAVALLI MEMORIAL

SCHOOlCHENNAI-600063
Concave mirrors

The mirror in which reflection takes place from the hollow inner surface and
has polished outer surface. It is used in headlights, solar furnaces, shaving
mirrors, head mirrors etc.

Terms associated with the spherical Mirrors

Pole(P): it is the centre of the spherical mirror.

Centre of curvature(C): it is the centre of sphere of which the mirror

forms a part.

Principal axis: the line passing through the pole and the centre of
curvature of the mirror is known as principal axis.

Linear aperture: it is the diameter of the circular boundary of the spherical

mirror.

Angular aperture: it is the angle subtended by the boundary of the

spherical mirror at its centre of curvature.

Principal focus: a beam of light parallel to the principal axis either converges
to or appears to diverge from a point F on the principal Axis afterreflection from
the spherical mirror. This point F is known as the principal focus of the mirror.
Focal length: the distance between the focus and the pole of the mirror is a
focal length of the mirror.

Focal plane: the vertical plane passing through the principal focus and
perpendicular to the principal axis is called focal plane.

Relationship between focal length and radius of curvature:

focal length= 1/2* radius of curvature

Mirror formula:

1/f = 1/v +

1/u f = uv /

(u+v).

f= focal length of concave mirror

u= distance of object from the mirror

v= distance of image from the mirror

Aim:

To find the focal length of a concave mirror by using u-v method.

Material used:

concave mirror, stand, screen, illuminated wire,light source, metre scale

etc.

Procedure to find focal length:

First we have to find the focal length of a mirror by distance object method.

● Fix the concave mirror on the stand and now put the stand in front of

the screen in such a way that the image of the object should be visible

on screen.

● Adjust the mirror to get the clear image of an object.

● Measure the difference between mirror and the screen using a metre

scale. The length between screen and mirror is the focal length (f ) of the

mirror.

● Now by using the focal length obtained, say the value of you that is the

distance between mirror and object ranging from 1.5f to 2.5f now, divide

the range into a number of equal steps.

● Place the mirror in front of an light source and it will act as an object.

● Now fix the mirror at the distance you have which is equal to 1.5 f

from the wire gauze.

● Place the screen in front of a mirror in such a way that the reflection of

the image lies on the screen.

● Now it’s just the position of the screen to get the clear image of the

light source

● Measure the distance between mirror and light source(u) and the

distance between mirror and screen (v).

● Record the values of u and v in a tabular format.

● Now calculate the focal length of a concave mirror by using the

relation, f = -uv / (u+v).

● Repeat the experiment to obtain different values of you and in each

time measure we and record it in the table.

● Calculate the focal length of a mirror each time.

● Now calculate the mean of all the focal lengths to get the correct focal

length of the given concave mirror.

OBSERVATION TABLE :

ROUGH FOCAL LENGTH= 9. 5 cm

−2 −2 −2
S.NO u x(10 )m v x(10 )m f x (10 )m

1.
17 28 9.5

2.
19 20 9.5

3.
21 19.5 9.5
Applications of Concave Mirror

A concave mirror, which is also called a converging mirror has its reflecting
surface bulging inwards, i.e. away from the incident light. There are numerous
uses of concave mirrors in daily life. It is used in aircraft landing to guide the
aeroplane, it is used as a torch to reflect the light rays, it is used during
shaving to get an erect and enlarged image of the face, etc.

Some concave mirror uses are listed in the points below.

● Shaving mirrors
● Head mirrors
● Ophthalmoscope
● Astronomical telescopes
● Headlights
● Solar furnaces

Concave mirrors reflect light inward to one focal light. Therefore, they are
mostly used to focus light. A concave mirror shows different image types
depending on the distance between the mirror and the object. Concave mirrors
are called converging mirrors because as light falls on the mirror, it collects
the light and refocuses the parallel incoming rays. Some of the most
important and common applications of the concave mirror are described below.
Used in Shaving Mirrors

Concave mirrors are most commonly used in shaving because of their reflective
and curved surface. The concave mirror forms an enlarged and erect image of
the face when the mirror is held closer to the face during shaving.

Concave Mirror Uses in the Ophthalmoscope

Concave mirrors are used in optical instruments such as Ophthalmoscope.

Ophthalmoscope consists of a concave mirror with a hole in the centre. The
doctor focuses through the small hole from behind the concave mirror while a
light beam is directed into the pupil of the patient’s eye. This makes the retina
visible and makes it easy for doctors to check.

Uses of Concave Mirror in Astronomical Telescopes

Concave mirrors are also used in making astronomical telescopes. In an

astronomical telescope, a concave mirror of a diameter of 5 meters or more is
used as the objective.

Concave Mirrors Used in Headlights

Concave mirrors are widely used in automobiles and motor vehicles headlights,
torchlights, railway engines, etc. as reflectors. The light source
is placed at the focus of the mirror, so after reflecting the light rays travel over
a huge distance as parallel light beams of high intensity.

Used in Solar Furnaces

Large concave mirrors are used to focus sunlight to produce heat in the solar
furnace. They are also used in solar ovens to collect a large amount of solar
energy in the focus of the concave mirror for heating, cooking, melting metals,
etc.

These were some common uses of the concave mirror in daily life. Concave
mirrors are also used in satellite dishes, electronic microscopes, visual bomb
detectors, etc
BIBLIOGRAPHY :

1. https://www.olabs.edu.in/?sub=74&brch=9&sim=67&cnt=1#:~:text=Fo
cal%20Length%20%2D%20The%20distance%20between,as%20sho
wn%20in%20the%20figure.

2. https://ncert.nic.in/textbook/pdf/leph201.pdf
3.