Experiment 403: Refraction from a Spherical Surface:

Thin Lens
<John Megryan B. Samartino >
<School of Civil, Environmental and Geological Engineering>
Mapua Institute of Technology
I. Abstract
Refraction is the bending of lightray as it hits a materialof different
opticaldensity. Transparent materials like lensescan refract parallelray of
light and canproduce an image. If the middle part oflens is thicker, it is
called a converginglens or a convexlens. But if the middle part is thinner,
the lens is called diverginglens or concavelens. The maineffect of lenses is
to refractlight passing through it. It is made up of transparentsubstances
that are bounded by twosurfaces of regula form. However, it is necessary
that the indexof refraction of the material should be higher thanthat of the
surroundingmedium.
Generally, lenses are classified as eitherconverging or diverging.
Convergin lenses are thicker in the middlethan they are in the edge.
Conversely, diverginglenses are thicker atthe edges than at the middle, so
that, the incident waves to the surfaceparallel to lens axisdiverge from a
point infront of the lens (principalfocus).
II. Objectives
For Experiment403 entitled as Refractionfrom a SphericalSurface:
ThinLensone can state that the study seeks(i)to determine the
focallength of a convexlens using(ii)different locations of the object
and(iii)the graphicalmethod.
III. Results and Discussion
This experiment tackles the concept of thinlens and refractionof alight
from a sphericalsurface. Refraction can be described as awave bentwhen
it passes a certainmedium with different opticaldensity. There are
manytypes of lens butin this experiment we mainlyfocused on
theproperties of a converginglens. Thislens has the abilityto change the
shapeof a certain wave that passthrough it.
In the firstpart, we determine the focallength of the twolens using an
object atinfinity. We used the lightpassing through thewindow of ourroom
as ourobject at infinity, we adjusted thelens until a sharpimage of the
window isformed. We have observedthat the imagecreated is real and
inverted.
In the secondpart of our experiment, wedetermine the focallength using
an object at a finitedistance. We used the lightsource, convexlens and
imagescreen for this part. The screen is placed1 meter away from the
lightsource. The lens are the ones that willbe moved until the
objectprojected from the screen is sharp. We have observed in thelens 1
that the imageprojected islarger than the originalimage and inverted but

when thelens is closer from the imagescreen, the imageprojected

becomessmaller. Therefore if the objectdistance is greater than the
imagedistance the size of theimage projecteddecreases but when the
image distance is greaterthan the objectdistance the imageprojected is
larger. The object and imagedistance can an interchangingvalues which
gives a point ofconjunction but still it will yield a similarvalue for f based
on thedata we gathered.
In the last part of theexperiment, we are tasked to determine the
focallength using the graphicaltechnique. It can be observed in the
graphthat as 1/s decreases, 1/s increases therefore 1/s and 1/s has an
inverselyproportional relationship. The focallength is obtained by using
the reciprocalof the intercepts. If we compare the averagevalue of the
focallength gathered by our group to its actualvalue, it has similarvalues
because we obtained a percentageerror of 0.31%. Also by observing,
position 1 and 2 that are created by the linecoincides with oneanother
which provesthe theory that image and object distances are really
interchangeable.
Lastly, the magnification of the projectedimage indicates the orientationof
an object. Having a positivemagnification indicatesthat the orientation of
the imageis upright, while if the magnificationvalue is negativeit means
that theobject is inverted. When the magnificationvalue is less than one,
the image it projects is smallerbut when the magnificationvalue is
greaterthan one, the image it projects is larger. By using these information
and the datawe gathered we can say that the imageprojected in this part
of our experimenthas an orientation opposite from the object, because our
values are negative.
IV. Conclusion
I can thereforeconclude that, refraction is aphenomenon that occurs when
the lightray is bent when it hits a certainobject. Lens is a devicemade of
transparentmaterial that refracts the lightrays going through it. In this
experimentwe mainly usedconvex lens, it has 2 focalpoints which is one
on eachsides, because of that the values of the image and objectdistance
can be interchangedand it can form a realinverted image or a
virtualerected image which depends on thevalues of the distances of the
focallength and object. If the object is outside of the images focallength it
can be concludedthat the image formed is real andinverted, but if the
object is inside the focallength the image formed is virtual andupright. We
can differentiate the concave and convexlens by the image it projects.
Convexlens projects a realimage while a concavelens projects a virtual
image.
Magnificationcan be described as the ratioof an imagesize.
Magnificationhas different properties, when its valueis negative itindicates
that the image is inverted. If the value of themagnification is positiveit can
be said that the orientationis upright. If thevalue is greater than 1 we can

say that the imagemagnified is enlarged but if the value is less than 1 the
image size is diminished.
Therefore we have proved thatimage and objectdistances are
interchangeablewhich we can conclude that it has points ofconjunction
that will yield the same value for the focus.