Question: Define the principal focus of a concave mirror.

Answer: The principal focus of a concave mirror is a point on its

principal axis to which all the light rays which are parallel and
close to the axis, converge after reflection from the concave
mirror.

Question: The radius of curvature of a spherical mirror is

20 cm. What is its focal length?
Answer: Focal length = Radius of curvature / 2 = 20 cm / 2 = 10
cm

Question: Name a mirror that can give an erect and

enlarged image of an object.
Answer: Concave mirror

Question: Why do we prefer a convex mirror as a rear-view

mirror in vehicles?
Answer: We prefer convex mirror as a rear-view mirror in vehicles
because:
1. A convex mirror always produces an erect image of the
objects.
2. The image formed in a convex mirror is highly diminished or
much smaller than the object, due to which a convex mirror
gives a wide field of view of the traffic behind. A convex
mirror enables the driver to view such larger area of the
traffic behind him.

Question: A concave mirror produces three times magnified

(enlarged) real image of an object placed at 10 cm in front
of it. Where is the image located?
Solution: Because the image is real, so magnification m must be
negative.
Thus, the image is located at a distance of 30 cm from the mirror
on the object side of the mirror.

Question: A ray of light travelling in air enters obliquely

into water. Does the light ray bend towards the normal or
away from the normal?
Answer: The light-ray bends towards the normal because the ray
of light goes from a rarer medium to a denser medium.

Question: Light enters from air to glass having refractive

index 1.50. What is the speed of light in the glass?
Answer: Refractive index of glass, ng = 1.50

Question: You are given kerosene, turpentine and water. In

which of these does the light travel fastest?
Answer:
For kerosene, n = 1.44; For turpentine, n = 1.47; For water, n =
1.33
Because water has the lowest refractive index, therefore light
travels fastest in this optically rarer medium than kerosene and
turpentine oil.

Question: The refractive index of diamond is 2.42. What is

the meaning of this statement?
Answer: By saying that the refractive index of diamond is 2.42,
we mean that the speed of light in diamond is lower by a factor of
2.42 relative to that in vacuum.

Question: Define 1 dioptre of power of a lens.

Answer: One dioptre is the power of a lens whose focal length is 1
metre.
Question: Find the power of a concave lens of focal length
2 m.
Answer: Because the focal length of a concave lens is negative,
therefore f = -2 m

Question: Which one of the following materials cannot be

used to make a lens?
(a) Water (b) Glass (c) Plastic (d) Clay
Answer: (d) Clay

Question: The image formed by a concave mirror is

observed to be virtual, erect and larger than the object.
Where should be the position of the object?
(a) Between the principal focus and the centre of curvature
(b) At the centre of curvature
(c) Beyond the centre of curvature
(d) Between the pole of the mirror and its principal focus
Answer: (d) Between the pole of the mirror and its principal focus

Question: Where should an object be placed in front of a

convex lens to get a real image of the size of the object?
(a) At the principal focus of the lens
(b) At twice the focal length
(c) At infinity
(d) Between the optical centre of the lens and its principal
focus
Answer: (b) At twice the focal length

Question: A spherical mirror and a thin spherical lens have

each a focal length of -15 cm. The mirror and the lens are
likely to be:
(a) Both concave
(b) Both convex
(c) the mirror is concave and the lens is convex
(d) the mirror is convex, but the lens is concave
Answer: (a) Both concave

Question: No matter how far you stand from mirror, your

image appears erect. The mirror is likely to be
(a) plane
(b) concave
(c) convex
(d) either plane or convex.
Answer: (d) Either plane or convex.

Question: Which of the following lenses would you prefer

to use while reading small letters found in a dictionary?
(a) A convex lens of focal length 50 cm
(b) A concave lens of focal length 50 cm
(c) A convex lens of focal length 5 cm
(d) A concave lens of focal length 5 cm
Answer: (c) A convex lens of focal length 5 cm.

Question: We wish to obtain an erect image of an object,

using a concave mirror of focal length 15 cm. What should
be the range of distance of the object from the mirror?
What is the nature of the image? Is the image larger or
smaller than the object?
Answer: A concave mirror gives an erect image when the object is
placed between the focus F and the pole P of the concave mirror,
i.e., between 0 and 15 cm from the mirror. The image thus formed
will be virtual, erect and larger than the object.
Question: Name the type of mirror used in the following
situations.
(a) Headlights of a car
(b) Side / rear-view mirror of a vehicle
(c) Solar furnace
Support your answer with reason
Answer:
(a) Concave mirrors are used as reflectors in headlights of cars.
When a bulb is located at the focus of the concave mirror, the light
rays after reflection from the mirror travel over a large distance as
a parallel beam of high intensity.

(b) A convex mirror is used as a side / rear-view mirror of a vehicle

because

 A convex mirror always forms an erect, virtual and

diminished image of an object placed anywhere in
front it.
 A convex mirror has a wider field of view than a plane
mirror of the same size.
(c) Large concave mirrors are used to concentrate sunlight to
produce heat in solar furnaces.

Question: A concave lens of focal length 15 cm forms an

image 10 cm from the lens. How far is the object placed
from the lens?
Answer: Focal length, f = -15 cm, Image distance, ν = -10 cm
Object distance, u = -30 cm.

The negative value of u indicates that the object is placed in front

of the lens.

Question: One-half of a convex lens is covered with a black

paper. Will this lens produce a complete image of the
object? Verify your answer experimentally. Explain your
observations.
Answer: A convex lens forms complete image of an object, even if
its one half is covered with black paper. It can be explained by
considering following two cases.
Case I: When the upper half of the lens is covered
In this case, a ray of light coming from the object will be refracted
by the lower half of the lens. These rays meet at the other side of
the lens to form the image of the given object, as shown in the
following figure.

Case II: When the lower half of the lens Is covered

In this case, a ray of light coming from the object is refracted by
the upper half of the lens. These rays meet at the other side of the
lens to form the image of the given object, as shown in the given
figure.

Question: The magnification produced by a plane mirror is +1.

What does this mean?
Answer:
1. m = 1 indicates the size of image is same as that of object.
2. positive sign of m indicates that an erect image is formed.
The opposite signs of ν and u indicate that image is formed on the
other side of the mirror from where the object is placed i.e., image
is formed behind the mirror and thus image formed is virtual.

Question: An object 5.0 cm in length is placed at a distance of 20

cm in front of a convex mirror of radius of curvature 30 cm. Find
the position of the image, its nature and size.
Answer:
Since object size, h = +5 cm,

object distance, u = -20 cm

and radius of curvature, R = +30 cm

A virtual, erect image of height 2.2 cm is formed behind the mirror

at a distance of 8.6 cm from the mirror.

Question: An object of size 7.0 cm is placed at 27 cm in front of a

concave mirror of focal length 18 cm. At what distance from the
mirror should a screen be placed, so that a sharp focused image
can be obtained ? Find the size and the nature of the image.
Answer:
Here, object size, h = +7.0 cm,

object distance, u = -27 cm

and focal length, f = -18 cm

Image distance, ν = ?

and image size, h’ = ?

From the mirror formula, \(\frac { 1 }{ f } =\frac { 1 }{ \nu } -\frac

{ 1 }{ u }\), we have

The screen should be placed at a distance of 54 cm on the object

side of the mirror to obtain a sharp image.

The image is real, inverted and enlarged in size.

Question: Find the focal length of a lens of power -2.0 D. What

type of lens is this?
Answer:
Here, P = -2.0 D

The type of lens is concave because the focal length is negative.

Question: A doctor has prescribed a corrective lens of power +1.5

D. Find the focal length of the lens. Is the prescribed lens diverging
or converging?
Answer:
Here, P = +1.5 D
Because the focal length is positive, the prescribed lens is
converging.

Question: Define the principal focus of a concave mirror?

Answer: Light rays that are parallel to the principal axis of a
concave mirror converge at a specific point on its principal axis
after reflecting from the mirror. This point is known as the principal
focus of the concave mirror.
Question: The radius of curvature of a spherical mirror is 20 cm.
What is its focal length?
Answer: Radius of curvature, R = 20 cm
Radius of curvature of a spherical mirror = 2 x Focal length (f)

f = R/2 = 20/2 =10cm

Question: Name the mirror that can give an erect and enlarged
image of an object.
Answer: When an object is placed between the pole and the
principal focus of a concave mirror, the image formed is virtual,
erect, and enlarged.

Light Reflection and Refraction – Question: Why do we prefer

a convex mirror as a rear-view mirror in vehicles?
Answer: Convex mirrors give a virtual, erect, and diminished
image of the objects placed in front of them. They are preferred as
a rear-view mirror in vehicles because they give a wider field of
view, which allows the driver to see most of the traffic behind him.
Question: Find the focal length of a convex mirror whose radius of
curvature is 32 cm.
Answer:
Radius of curvature, R = 32 cm

Radius of curvature = 2 x Focal length (f)

R = 2f

f = R/2 = 32/2 = 16cm

Hence, the focal length of the given convex mirror is 16 cm.

Question: A concave mirror produces three times magnified
(enlarged) real image of object placed at 10 cm in front of it.
Where is the image located?
Answer:
Given, u = – 10 cm
Since image is real inverted so, m = -3

⇒ -3 = -v/ -10
m = -v / u

v= – 30 cm
Negative sign indicates the image will be real and image is formed
at 30 cm in front of the mirror.
Question: A ray of light travelling in air enters obliquely into
water. Does the light ray bend towards the normal or away from
the normal? Why?
Answer: The light ray bends towards the normal. When a ray of
light travels from an optically rarer medium to an optically denser
medium, it gets bent towards the normal. Since water is optically
denser than air, a ray of light travelling from air into the water will
bend towards the normal.
Question: Light enters from air to glass having refractive index
1.50. What is the speed of light in the glass? The speed of light in
vacuum is 3 × 108 m/s.
Answer:
Refractive index of a medium nm is given by,

Question: Find out, from Table, the medium having highest

optical density. Also find the medium with lowest optical density.
Answer:
Highest optical density = Diamond

Lowest optical density = Air

Optical density of a medium is directly related with the refractive

index of that medium. A medium which has the highest refractive
index will have the highest optical density and vice-versa.

It can be observed from table 10.3 that diamond and air

respectively have the highest and lowest refractive index.
Therefore, diamond has the highest optical density and air has the
lowest optical density

Question: You are given kerosene, turpentine and water. In which

of these does the light travel fastest?
Answer:
The light can travel fast through water.

Question: The refractive index of diamond is 2.42. What is the

meaning of this statement?
Answer: Refractive index of a medium nm is related to the speed
of light in that medium v by the relation:

Where, c is the speed of light in vacuum/air

The refractive index of diamond is 2.42. This suggests that the

speed of light in diamond will reduce by a factor 2.42 compared to
its speed in air.

Question: Define one dioptre of power of a lens?

Answer:
One dioptre is the power Of a lens Of focal length 1m.

Power of lens is defined as the reciprocal of its focal length. If P is

the power of a lens of focal length F in metres, then
P = 1/ f (in meters)

The S.I. unit of power of a lens is Dioptre. It is denoted by D.

1 dioptre is defined as the power of a lens of focal length 1 metre.

1 D = 1 m−1

Question: A convex lens forms a real and inverted image of a

needle at a distance of 50 cm from it. Where is the needle placed
in front of the lens if the image is equal to the size of the object?
Also find the power of the lens.
Answer:
v = + 50 cm

Since image is real and of same size. The position of image should
be double the focal length.

Hence, the object should be at 2f.

V = 2f = 50, f = 25 cm.

Power = 1/f = 100/25 = 4D

Light Reflection and Refraction – Question: Find the power of

a concave lens of focal length 2 m.
Answer:

Question: Which one of the following materials cannot be used to

make a lens?
(a) Water
(b) Glass
(c) Plastic
(d) Clay
Answer: (d) Clay
Question: The image formed by a concave mirror is observed to
be virtual, erect and larger than the object. Where should be the
position of the object?
(a) Between the principal focus and the centre of Curvature
(b) At the centre of curvature
(c) Beyond the centre of curvature
(d) Between the pole of the mirror and Its principal focus
Answer: (d) Between the pole of the mirror and its principal focus
Question: Where should an object be placed in front of a convex
lens to get a real image of the size of the object?
(a) At the principal focus of the lens
(b) At twice the focal length
(c) At infinity
(d) Between the optical centre of the lens and its principal focus
Answer: (b) At twice the focal length
Question: A spherical mirror and a thin spherical lens have each a
focal length of 15 cm. The mirror and the lens are likely to be:
(a) both concave
(b) both convex
(c) the mirror is concave, but the lens is convex
(d) the mirror is convex, but the lens is concave
Answer: (a) Both concave.
Light Reflection and Refraction – Question: No matter how far
you stand from a mirror, your Image appears erect. The mirror is
likely to be
(a) plane
(b) concave
(c) convex
(d) Either plane or convex
Answer: (d) Either plane or convex.
Question: Which of the following lenses would you prefer to use
while reading small letters found in a dictionary?
(a) A convex lens of focal length 50 cm
(b) A concave lens of focal length 50 cm
(c) A convex lens of focal length 5 cm
(d) A concave lens of focal length 5 cm
Answer: (c) A convex lens of focal length 5 cm
Question: We wish to obtain an erect image of an object, using a
concave mirror of focal length 15 cm. what should be the range of
distance of the object from the mirror? What is the nature of the
image? Is the image larger or smaller than the object? Draw a ray
diagram to show the image formation in this case.
Answer: We are given the focal length cf the concave mirror as f
= -15cm.
For getting an erect image using a concave mirror, the object
should be placed at a distance less than the focal length.
i.e. 15 cm from the pole. The image formed will be virtual,
enlarged and erect.

Light Reflection and Refraction – Question: Name the type of

mirror used in the following situations.
(a) Headlights of a car
(b) Side / rear-view mirror of a vehicle
(c) Solar furnace
Support your answer with reason.
Answer:
(a) Concave mirror, to get powerful and parallel beams of light.
(b) Convex mirror because it always gives an erect image and
enables the driver to view much larger area.
(c) Concave or parabolic mirror because it can concentrate
sunlight at the focus to produce heat in the solar furnace.
Question: One half of a convex lens is covered with a black paper.
Will this lens produce a complete image of the object? Verify your
answer experimentally. Explain your observations.
Answer: Yes, even when one half of the lens is covered with a
black paper, complete image of the object will be formed. Take a
convex lens and focus the light from a distant object onto a
screen. As expected an image (sharp) is formed at a distance
equal to the focal length Cover the lower or the upper half of the
lens and focus the light from the same object onto the same
screen. You will be able to get a sharp image again; however the
brightness of the image will be less in the second case. The same
effect w,ll be seen even if the lens is half covered with black strips.
Question: An object 5cm in length is held 25 cm away from a
converging lens of focal length 10 cm. Draw a ray diagram and
find the position, size and the nature of the image formed.
Answer:

Therefore, the mage ¡s formed between F2 and 2F2 on the other

side of the lens. It is real and inverted, and smaller in size than the
object.
Question: A concave lens of focal length 15 cm forms an ¡mage
10 cm from the lens. How far is the object placed from the Pens?
Draw the ray diagram.
Answer:

Question: An object is placed at a distance of 10 cm from a

convex mirror of focal length 15 cm. Find the position and nature
of the image.
Answer: f = +15 cm. u = -1o cm
For mirror, we have
The image must be virtual and erect.

Light Reflection and Refraction – Question: The magnification

produced by a plane mirror is +1. What does this mean?
Answer: This means that size of the image is equal to the size of
the object.
Question: An object 5.0 cm in length is placed at a distance of 20
cm in front of a convex mirror of radius of curvature 30 cm. Find
the position of the image nature and size.
Answer:

Question: An object of size 7.0 cm is placed at 27 cm in front of a

concave mirror of focal length 18 cm. At what distance from the
mirror should a screen be placed, so that a sharp focused image
can be obtained? Find the size and the nature of the image.
Answer:
Question: Find the focal length of a lens of power -2.0 D. What
type of lens is this?
Answer:

Question: A doctor has prescribed a corrective lens of power +1.5

D. find the focal length of the lens. Is the prescribed lens diverging
or converging?
Answer:
Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) [1 mark each]
Question: Hold a highly polished steel spoon curved inwards close
to your face and move it slowly away from your face. What will you
observe?
(a) Enlarged and erect image of your face
(b) Smaller and inverted image of your face
(c) Smaller and erect image of your face
(d) Enlarged and inverted image of your face
Answer: (b) The inner curved surface of a highly polished steel
spoon acts as a concave mirror. When the spoon is at a small
distance from the face such that, the object lies between pole and
focus of concave mirror, so an enlarged and erect image of your
face will be observed but as the spoon is slowly moved away from
the face, the image becomes smaller and appears inverted.
Question: Which one of the following materials cannot be used to
make a lens? [NCERT]
(a) Water
(b) Glass
(c) Plastic
(d) Clay
Answer: (d) Clay can never be transparent, so it cannot be used
to make lens.
Question: No matter how far you stand from a mirror, your image
appears erect. The mirror is likely to be [NCERT]
(a) plane
(b) concave
(c) convex
(d) either plane or convex
Answer: (d) Plane mirrors and convex mirrors always form the
erect images.
Question: The image formed by a concave mirror is observed to
be virtual, erect and larger than the object. Where should be the
position of the object? [NCERT]
(a) Between principal focus and centre of curvature
(b) At centre of curvature
(c) Beyond centre of curvature
(d) Between pole of the mirror and its principal focus
Answer: (d)
Question: An object AB is placed in front of a convex lens at its
centre of curvature as shown in figure below.

Four students traced the path of light ray after refraction through
the lens. Which one of them is correct?

(a) Only I
(b) Only II
(c) Only III
(d) Only IV
Answer: (d) When the object is placed at centre of curvature (2Fx)
of convex lens, the same sized image is formed at 2F2. The image
formed is real and inverted.
Question: A spherical mirror and a thin spherical lens have each
of a focal length -15 cm. The mirror and lens are likely to
be [NCERT]
(a) both concave
(b) both convex
(c) mirror is concave and lens is convex
(d) mirror is convex and lens is concave
Answer: (a) The focal length is taken as negative for both concave
mirror and concave lens.
Question: Which of the following can make a parallel beam of light
when light from a point source is incident on it? [NCERT
Exemplar]
(a) Concave mirror as well as convex lens
(b) Convex mirror as well as concave lens
(c) Two plane mirrors placed at 90° to each other
(d) Concave mirror as well as concave lens
Answer: (a) A ray passing through the principal focus of a
concave mirror or convex lens, after reflection/refraction, will
emerge parallel to the principal axis.

Question: Under which of the following conditions, a concave

mirror can form an image larger than the actual object? [NCERT
Exemplar]
(a) When an object is kept at a distance equal to its radius of
curvature
(b) When an object is kept at a distance less than its focal length
(c) When an object is placed between the focus and centre of
curvature
(d) When an object is kept at a distance greater than its radius of
curvature
Answer: (c) A concave mirror can form an image enlarged, real
and inverted than the actual object, beyond centre of curvature
(C) when object is placed between the focus (F) and centre of
curvature.
Question: A light ray enters from medium A to medium B as
shown in the figure. The refractive index of medium B relative to A
will be [NCERT Exemplar]

(a) greater than unity

(b) less than unity
(c) equal to unity
(d) zero
Answer: (a) Since, light rays in the medium B goes towards
normal. So, it has greater refractive index and lesser velocity of
light w.r.t. medium A. So, refractive index of medium B w.r.t.
medium A is greater than unity.
Question: Figure shows a ray of light as it travels from medium A
to medium B. Refractive index of the medium B relative to medium
A is
Answer: (a) Given, angle of incidence, i = 60°, angle of refraction,
r = 45°
Refractive index of the medium B relative to medium A,

Question: Beams of light are incident through the holes A and B

and emerge out of box through the holes C – and D respectively,
as Box shown in the figure.

Which of the following could be inside the box? [NCERT

Exemplar]
(a) A rectangular glass slab
(b) A convex lens
(c) A concave lens
(d) A prism
Answer: (a) Here, the emergent rays are parallel to the direction
of the incident ray. Therefore, a rectangular glass slab could be
inside the box as the extent of bending of light ray at the opposite
parallel faces AB (air-glass interface) and CD (glass-air interface)
of the rectangular glass slab are equal and opposite. This is why
the ray emerges parallel to the incident ray.
Question: A beam of light is incident through the holes on side A
and emerges out of the holes on the other face of the box as
shown in the figure. Which of the following could be inside the
box? [NCERT Exemplar]

(a) Concave lens

(b) Rectangular glass slab
(c) Prism
(d) Convex lens
Answer: (d) Since, in the figure all the parallel rays converge at a
point. So, inside the box there must be a convex lens.

Question: Which of the following statement is true? [NCERT

Exemplar]
(a) A convex lens has 4D power having a focal length 0.25 m
(b) A convex lens has 4D power having a focal length -0.25 m
(c) A concave lens has 4D power having a focal length 0.25 m
(d) A concave lens has 4D power having a focal length -0.25 m
Answer: (a) The power P of a lens of focal length f is given by
P = 1/f, where f is the focal length in metre and P is the power in
dioptre.
P= 1/f or f = 1/P = 1/4 = 0.25 m
Question: Magnification produced by a rear view mirror fitted in
vehicles [NCERT Exemplar]
(a) is less than one
(b) is more than one
(c) is equal to one
(d) can be more than or less than one depending upon the position
of the object in front of it.
Answer: (a) The convex mirror forms virtual, erect and diminished
image of the object and rear view mirror also form same type of
image. Therefore, magnification (m) produced by a rear view
mirror fitted in vehicles is less than one, i.e. m < 1.
Question: Rays from the Sun converge at a point 15 cm in front of
a concave mirror. Where should an object be placed, so that size
of its image is equal to the size of the object? [NCERT Exemplar]
(a) 15 cm in front of the mirror
(b) 30 cm in front of the mirror
(c) between 15 cm and 30 cm in front of the mirror
(d) more than 30 cm in front of the mirror
Answer: (b) The rays from the Sun, i.e. from infinity, are parallel
to principal axis after reflection converge at a point is known as
focus. Therefore, focal length if) of concave mirror is 15 cm. And
we know that, same size, real and inverted image is formed by
concave mirror when object is placed at focus 2 A or centre of
curvature, so to form same size of image, object will be placed at
15 x 2 =30 cm.
Question: The path of a ray of light coming from air passing
through a rectangular glass slab traced by four students shown as
I, II, III and IV in the figure. Which one of them is correct? [NCERT
Exemplar]

(a) Only I
(b) Only II
(c) Only III
(d) Only IV
Light Reflection and Refraction – Answer: (b) In a rectangular
glass slab, the emergent rays are parallel to the direction of the
incident ray, because the lateral deviation of bending of the ray of
light at the opposite parallel faces (air-glass interface) and (glass-
air interface) of the rectangular glass slab are equal and opposite.
This is why the ray emerges are parallel to the incident ray.
Question: You are given water, mustard oil, glycerin and
kerosene. In which of these media, a ray of light incident obliquely
at same angle would bend the most? [NCERT Exemplar]
(a) Kerosene
(b) Water
(c) Mustard oil
(d) Glycerin
Answer: (d) The given material having their refractive index as
kerosene is 1.44, water is 1.33, mustard oil is 1.46 and glycerin is
1.74. Thus, glycerin is most optically denser and hence have the
largest refractive index. Therefore, ray of light bend most in
glycerin.
Question: A student placed a light bulb in midway between the
two plane mirrors inclined at an angle of 60°. How many images
will be observed by him?
(a) 4
(b) 6
(c) 5
(d) 8
Light Reflection and Refraction – Answer: (c) Number of
images formed by two plane mirrors inclined at an angle 60° when
a light bulb is placed in midway between them is
N = 360°/60° – 1 = 6 – 1 = 5
Question: Where should an object be placed in front of a convex
lens to get a real image of the size of the object? [NCERT]
(a) At the principal focus of the lens
(b) At twice the focal length
(c) At infinity
(d) Between the optical centre of the lens and its principal focus
Answer: (b) To set the real image of the size of the object, it
should be placed at twice the focal length of a convex lens.
Question: Which of the following lenses would you prefer to use
while reading small letters found in dictionary? [NCERT]
(a) A convex lens of focal length 50 cm
(b) A concave lens of focal length 50 cm
(c) A convex lens of focal length 5 cm
(d) A concave lens of focal length 5 cm
Light Reflection and Refraction – Answer: (c) Convex lens is
used as magnifying glass. For better performance its focal length
should be small.