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acknowledgement
We would like to express our special thanks
of gratitude to our teacher Ms. Mohini Mam
as well as our principal Mrs. Renu Sharma
Mam who gave us the golden opportunity to
do this wonderful project on this topic which
also helped us in doing a lot of Research and
we came to know about so many new things
we are really thankful to them.
 AIM OF THE EXPERIMENT
TO FIND THE FOCAL LENGTH OF A
CONVEX LENS BY PLOTTING A GRAPH
BETWEEN U AND V OR 1/U AND 1/V

(where ‘u’ is the distance of object needle from optical center and
‘v’ is the distance of image needle from optical center)

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1.1 Image Showing ‘u’ and ‘v’

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 APPARATUS REQUIRED
1. Optical Bench 2. Convex Lens

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3. Lens Holder 4. Two Optical
Needles

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5. Metered Scale 6. Glass Sheet

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7. UPRIGHTS

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 PRE-REQUISITE
KNOWLEDGE
The knowledge of Principal Axis, Focal
Length , Optical Centre and Principal
Focus is required for finding the focal
length on a Convex Lens

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Optical Centre

Centre point of lens

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 Principle Axis

Principal axis definition, a line passing through the

center of the surface of a lens or spherical mirror
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 Principal Focus

A point on the Principal Axis of convex lens to which

all the light running parallel to the axis converge is
called Principal Focus
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 Focal length

Distance between optical center and principal focal is

called Focal Length
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 theory
Relation between u , v and f in accordance to convex
lens :

1/f = 1/v – 1/u

Where, f = focal length of convex lens

u = distance of object needle from optical center
And , v = distance of image needle from optical center
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 Note :
due to the negative value of u and positive value of v In
convex lenses, the focal length comes out to be positive

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Ray diagram

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setup

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 procedure

i). To determine rough focal length:

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 ii.) To set up the lens :

Adjust the lens such that it’s surface is

vertical and perpendicular to the length of
optical bench . Hence, keep the upright fixed
in its position.

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 iii.) To set up the object needle:
• Take the thin optical needle as object
needle (O). Mount it in outer laterally
moveable upright near zero end.

• Move the object needle upright and clamp

it at a distance (in full cms) nearly 2 times
(2f) the obtained rough focal length of the
lens.
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 • Adjust height of the object needle to
make its tip lie on horizontal line through
the optical centre of the lens.
• Note the reading by the help of metered
scale.

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Setting up object needle

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 iv.) To set up the image needle:
With left eye closed, see with the right open
eye from the other end of the optical bench.
An inverted and enlarged image of the
object needle will be seen. Tip of the image
must lie in the middle of the lens.

Mount the thick optical needle (image

needle) in the third upright near the other
end of the optical bench.
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Adjust the height of the image needle
so that its tip is seen in line with the
tip of the image when seen with right
open eye.

Move the eye towards right. The tips

will get separated. The image tip and
the image needle tip have parallax.

Remove the parallax from tip to tip.

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Parallax Error Parallax Error
Removed
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 v.) To get more observations:
Move object needle upright towards
mirror in steps of 1 cm to get
observations . Repeat the experiment.
Move object needle upright away from
mirror in steps of 1 cm to get more
observations. Repeat the experiment at
least 5 times .
Record all the observations as given
ahead.
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 Observations:
You will have to take the following observations:

S.NO OBJECT IMAGE DISTANCE 1/U 1/V

DISTANCE (U) (V)
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

.
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 CALCULATIONS:
1.) By plotting a graph between u and v :
Select a suitable but the same scale to represent u
along X’-axis and v along Y-axis. According to sign
conventions, in this case, u is negative and v is
positive. Plot the various points for different sets of
values of u and v from observation table second
quadrant. The graph comes out to be a rectangular
hyperbola as shown in graph between u and v.
Draw a line OA making an angle of 45° with either
axis (i.e., bisecting ∠YOX’) and meeting the curve
at point A. Draw AB and AC perpendicular on X’-
and Y-axes, respectively.
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The values of u and v will be same for
point A. So the coordinates of point A
must

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1.) By plotting a graph between 1/U and 1/V:

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 precaution

1. Optical Bench should be on a plane surface.

2. Tips of object and image needle should lie at
the same height , at the center of the lens.
3. Parallax should be removed from tip to tip.

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 Sources of error

1. The uprights may not be vertical.

2. Parallax may not be removed perfectly.

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 TEAM MEMBERS

Dipanshu Kumar Kunal Sharma Priyansh Bisht Ankit Pandey

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Youtube : Visual Physics Tutor
• Youtube : Adil Khan
• Website : learncbse.in
• Animation App : Vita
• Intro Maker App

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