How lenses work

concave lenses

A concave lens always produces images which are upright and diminished.

The image produced by the concave lens on the left is clearly diminished and upright. Convex lenses produce virtual images.

Lets see how they work.

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A concave lens spreads(diverges) the light. Concave lenses produce virtual images. The light is not actually focused by the lens to form the image.

Click to see how to draw an image with a concave lens.

 


The image formed by a concave lens is virtual, upright and diminished (smaller than the object). On emerging from the lens, the rays appear to come from a point on the same side of the lens as the object. The image is nearer the lens than the object. Regardless of the object's position the image is always virtual, reduced and upright.

Describe how the image changes as the object moves closer to the lens.

Does the image ever become inverted? If so how far away must the object be from the lens?
Does it ever become real? If so how far away must the object be from the lens?
Is it ever magnified? If so how far away must the object be from the lens?
Solution

Exercises

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