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by: Mr. Naveed

Expected short questions from theory and exercise
Atif

Chapter wise Notes (Physics)

Chapter # 12: Geometrical Optics

SHORT QUESTIONS (EXERCISE)
Conceptual Questions

Question#1: A man raises his left hand in a plane mirror, the image facing him is
raising his right hand. Explain why?
Ans: This is due to reflection of light which forms an inverted image.
Question#2: In your own words, explain why light waves are refracted at a
boundary between the two materials.
Ans: Light waves are refracted at boundary due to density of mediums. When light
passes through any medium except air its speed decreases also its angle with normal
effected.
Question#3: Explain why a fish under water appears to be at different depth
below the surface than it actually is. Does it appear deeper or shallower?
Ans: A fish under water appears to be at different depth because of refraction of light.
So, after refraction some light come towards our eyes and we see the image of the fish
at a shallower distance from the surface.
Question#4: Why or why not concave mirrors are suitable for make up?
Ans: Concave mirrors used for makeup because these are curved inward and make the
persons image larger as he/she approaches mirror. When a person stands between the
principal focus and pole he/she sees an enlarged, erect and virtual image.
Question#5: Why is the drivers side mirror in many cars convex rather than plane
or concave?
Ans: This is because everything appears smaller in the concave mirror. So, convex
mirrors cover a wider area than normal plane.
Question#6: When an opticians testing room is small, he uses a mirror to help
him test eye sight of his patients. Explain why?
Ans: Actually mirrors are used to increase the distance between patient and image. The
purpose of increasing distance is to see how distance effects the eye sight and this is
how you are given a eye sight number which represents the distance.
Question#7: How does the thickness of the lens effect its focal length?
Ans: It has inverse relation. If the thickness of a lens is increased, the power of the lens
is also increases and focal length of a lens decreases.
Question#8: Under what conditions will a converging lens form a virtual image?
Ans: 1. If the object is placed between lens and F,
2. If the object is placed at F,
Then the image is behind the object, virtual, erect and larger than the object.

by: Mr. Naveed

Expected short questions from theory and exercise
Atif

Chapter wise Notes (Physics)

Question#9: Under what conditions will a converging lens form a real image that
is the same size as the object?
Ans: If the object is placed at 2F, then the image is at 2F, real, inverted and of same
size as the object.
Question#10: Why do we use refracting telescope with large objective lens of
large focal length?
Ans: To get real image of the distant object we use refracting telescope with large
objective lens of large focal length.

Additional Questions
Question#1: What is reflection of light? Also describe the laws of reflection?
When light strikes to any hard surface it bounced back in its original direction. This
bouncing back of light from any surface is called
reflection of light. Reflection of light obeys the following
laws: i) The angle of incidence i is equal to the angle of
reflection r.
ii) The incident ray, reflected ray and normal at the
point of incidence, all lies in the same plane.
Question#2: What are the spherical mirrors? Explain.
Spherical mirror in fact is a portion of reflecting surface of a hollow sphere. Spherical
mirror are of two types:
Concave Mirror: Mirror whose inner curved surface is reflecting is called concave mirror. It is thinner at
the center and thicker at the edges.
Convex Mirror: Mirror whose outer curved surface is reflecting is called convex mirror. It is thicker at the
center and thinner at the edges.
Question#3: Describe different parts and positions of mirrors?
***See figures from book
Center of Curvature:
The centre C of the sphere, of which a concave mirror or convex mirror is a part is
known as the center of curvature.
Radius of Curvature:
Radius of the sphere is called Radius of Curvature.
Aperture:
The front end of the spherical mirror is circular and its diameters is known as Aperture.
Principal Axis:
The center P of the mirror is called the pole of mirror. A line joining the pole P of the
mirror and C, is called Principal Axis.
Principal Focus:
In concave mirror rays of light parallel to the principal axis after reflection converge to a
point F. This point is called Principal Focus.

by: Mr. Naveed

Expected short questions from theory and exercise
Atif

Chapter wise Notes (Physics)

In convex mirror, rays parallel to the principal axis after reflection appear to come from a
point F situated behind the mirror. This point is called Principal Focus.
Focal Length:
The distance between the pole and the principal focus of a spherical mirror is called the
Focal Length. It is denoted by f.
Radius of curvature of a spherical mirror is twice of its focal length.
Question#4: Explain the term Linear Magnification?
The ratio of the height of the image to that of the object is called linear magnification. It
is denoted by m.
Image Height
Magnification = m = ---------------Object Height
OR
Image height
q
M = --------------= -Object height
p
Question#5: Write some uses of spherical mirrors?
The uses of convex mirrors are as follows:
i) Doctors use concave mirrors to examine ear, nose, throat and eye.
ii) Parabolic shaped concave mirrors are used in search lights to throw light
at a larger distance.
iii) Concave mirrors are also used as shaving mirrors because it produce enlarged erect
and virtual image.
iv) Concave mirrors are used to throw light on slides in microscopes.
v) Developed countries are using concave mirrors in telescopes.
vi) Convex mirrors are used in auto mobiles to see behind and around.
Question#6: Which mirrors are used in huge shopping centers and why?
Convex mirrors are used for security purposes in shopping centers.
Question#7: What is refraction of light, also describe its laws?
When light enters into a new medium from another medium it deviates from its original
path. This deviation is called refraction of light.
The laws of refraction are as under: i) Incident ray, refracted ray and the normal all lie in same plane.
ii) When a ray of light passes from one particular medium to another, the ratio of the
sine of the angle of incidence (i) to the sine of angle of refraction (r) is constant. This
constant ratio is called refractive index of the second medium with respect to the first
and it is denoted by the letter (n).
Question#8: What is refractive index? How is it calculated?
When a ray of light passes from one particular medium to another, the ratio of the sine
of the angle of incidence (i) to the sine of angle of refraction (r) is constant. This

by: Mr. Naveed

Expected short questions from theory and exercise
Atif

Chapter wise Notes (Physics)

constant ratio is called refractive index of the second medium with respect to the first
and it is denoted by the letter (n).
Sin i
n = ----Sin r
It is called Snells law. For a ray of light entering the second medium perpendicularly
through the surface of separation and in this case the ray of light shows no change of
direction.
The refractive index of a medium can be calculated by dividing the speed of light in
vacuum by speed of light in that medium. For example
Speed of light in air
Refractive index of glass with respect to air = ------------------------Speed of light in glass

Question#9: What is total internal reflection? Explain?

When the value of angle of incidence becomes greater than the critical angle then the
ray does not pass into the second medium (air) that is the ray of light no longer suffers
refraction but all the rays having angle of incidence greater than the critical angle are
totally reflected back in the denser medium (glass) obeying the laws of reflection. Such
a reflection of light is called Total Internal Reflection.
The two conditions are necessary for total internal reflection: i) The ray of light should travel from a denser medium to a rarer medium.
ii) The angel of incidence should be greater than the critical angle.
Question#10: Define critical angle?
The angle of incidence in the denser medium for which corresponding angle of
refraction is 900 in the rarer medium is called the critical angle. This angle of incidence
is denoted by C.
Question#11: What should be the angle of incidence for total internal reflection?
For total internal reflection, the angle of incidence should be greater than the critical
angle.
Question#12: Why in hot summer season images of cars are seen on roads? OR
why the roads look watery?
This is due to total internal reflection.
Question#13: What are totally reflecting prism?
A totally reflecting prism is that whose one angle is of 90o and remaining two angles are
of 45o each. This prism is used to erect the image of an object. i.e. to invert the rays
coming from an object.
Question#14: What is principal of periscope? What is its structure and uses?
Periscope works on the principal of total internal reflection. It has two adjusted totally
reflecting prisms.
With the help of periscope

by: Mr. Naveed

Expected short questions from theory and exercise
Atif

Chapter wise Notes (Physics)

i) Commander of submarine can see the objects over the surface of water.
ii) Tank driver can see what is happening outside.

Question#15: What are optical fibers? Write its some applications and their uses?
Optical fiber works on the principal of total internal reflection. An optical fiber is made of
a highly transparent fine strand of glass or plastic coated whose refractive index is less
than the inner tube. Its applications are as under: Light Pipes: i) If many thousands of optical fibers are bundled together than a flexible
light pipe is obtained.
ii) It is used by doctors and engineers to examine things and places.
iii) Pakistan is using optical fibers in telecommunication. A single strand of
optical fiber can transmit thousands of phone calls without interfering them.
iv) Generally a cable consists of 30 optical fibers.
Endoscope: i) It is used for viewing and photographing of internal structure of human body.
ii) It consists of bundles of many optical fibers.
iii) Endoscope consists of many instruments i.e. Gastro scope is used to examine
stomach, Bronchoscope is used to examine throat, and cysto-scope is used to examine
liver.
Question#17: Which sign conventions are used in case of lenses?
i) All the distances are measured from the optical centre of lens.
ii) The distance of real images and real objects are taken positive while distance of
virtual images and virtual objects are taken negative.
iii) The focal length is taken as positive for convex lens and negative for concave lens.
Question#18: Define power of a lens?
If the focal length of a lens is f then its reciprocal 1/f is called the power of the lens. So
Power of lens = p = 1/f
The unit of power of lens is Diopter. Diopter is defined as the power of a lens of focal
length of one meter. It id denoted by D.
Question#19: Which lens has greater power, one of short focal length or of
greater focal length?
Length of a lens is f then its reciprocal 1/f is called power of a lens. Therefore the lens of
smaller focal length has greater power.
Question#21: Write a note on defects of vision?
A normal person can see at a far distance down to about 25cm from the eye.
There are two main defects of eye: Nearsightedness: i). A man suffering with short sightedness cannot see distant object clearly.
ii) This is due to thickness of eyeball than normal or eye ball is longer than
normal size.
iii) In this case image is formed in front of retina instead of retina.

by: Mr. Naveed

Expected short questions from theory and exercise
Atif

Chapter wise Notes (Physics)

iv) It can be minimized by wearing spectacle having suitable concave lens.

v) Concave lens diverge the light rays and focused them on retina.
Farsightedness: i) A man suffering with long sightedness cannot see nearer objects clearly.
ii) This is due to thinness of eyeball than normal or eye ball is shorter than
normal size.
iii) In this case image is formed behind the retina instead of retina.
iv) It can be minimized by wearing spectacle having suitable convex lens.
v) Convex lens converge the light rays and focused them on retina.

Question#22: Why light rays bends in refraction?

Because value of refractive index is different in different mediums. So when the medium
changes, rays bends towards or away the normal due to difference in refractive index.
Question#23: What do you mean by regular and irregular reflection?
When light rays reflect after striking a smooth surface, it reflect back making the angle
equal to incidence angle. This type of reflection is called regular reflections. When light
rays reflect after striking a rough or non-smooth surface, it reflect back making uncertain angles in different directions. This type of reflection is called irregular reflections.
Question#24: What do you mean by spectrum?
After passing through prism, sunlight splits into its basic 7 colors. The band of colors
which is seen on the screen is called spectrum.
Question#25: Describe the following terms used in reflection:
i.
Normal
ii.
Angle of incidence
iii. Angle of reflection
Ans:
i.
Normal is the perpendicular at the point of incidence. It is an imaginary line
perpendicular to the surface reflecting to the light.
ii.
Angle of incidence can be defined as angle with which a light ray strikes a
reflecting surface.
iii.
The angle formed after reflection of light with normal is known as angle of
reflection.