1. A 5-cm high object is placed 5 cm from a 15-cm focal length converging lens. Determine the image distance, the magnification of the image, the image height and the properties of the image.
Known :
The focal length (f) = 15 cm
The plus sign indicates that the focal point is real or the rays pass through the point.
The object height (ho) = 5 cm
The object distance (do) = 5 cm
Wanted : the image distance, the magnification of image, the image height and the properties of image
Solution :
Formation of image by converging lens :

The image distance (di) :
1/di = 1/f – 1/do = 1/15 – 1/5 = 1/15 – 3/15 = -2/15
di = -15/2 = -7.5 cm
The minus sign indicates that the image is virtual or the rays do not pass through the image.
The magnification of image (m) :
m = – di / do = -(-7.5)/5 = 7.5/5 = 1.5
The plus sign indicates that the image is upright.
The image height (hi) :
m = hi / ho
hi = m ho = (1.5)5 = 10/3 = 7.5 cm
The plus sign indicates that the image is upright.
The properties of the image
– virtual
– upright
– The image greater than the object
– The image distance is greater than the object distance
2. A 10-cm high object is placed 30 cm from a 15-cm focal length converging lens. Determine the image distance, the magnification of the image, the image height and the properties of the image.
Known :
The focal length (f) = 15 cm
The plus sign indicates that the focal point is real or the rays pass through the point.
The object height (h) = 10 cm
The object distance (s) = 30 cm
Wanted: The image distance, the magnification of the image, the image height and the properties of the image
Solution :
Formation of the image by the converging lens :

The image distance (di) :
1/di = 1/f – 1/do = 1/15 – 1/30 = 2/30 – 1/30 = 1/30
di = 30/1 = 30 cm
The plus sign indicates that the image is real or the rays pass through the image.
The magnification of image (m) :
m = – di / do = -(30)/30 = -30/30 = -1
The minus sign indicates that the image is inverted.
The image height (hi) :
m = hi / ho
hi = m ho = (-1)10 = -10 cm
The minus sign indicates that the image is inverted.
The properties of the image
– real or the rays pass through the image
– inverted
– The image height is the same as the object height.
– The image distance is the same as the object distance.
3. A 10-cm high object is placed 30 cm from a 20-cm focal length converging lens. Determine the image distance, the magnification of the image, the image height and the properties of the image.
Known :
The focal length f) = 20 cm
The plus sign indicates that the focal point is real or the rays pass through the point.
The object height (h) = 10 cm
The object distance (do) = 30 cm
Wanted : The image distance, the magnification of image, the image height and the properties of image
Solution :
The image distance (di) :
1/di = 1/f – 1/do = 1/20 – 1/30 = 3/60 – 2/60 = 1/60
di = 60/1 = 60 cm
The plus sign indicates that the image is real or the rays pass through the image.
The magnification of image (m) :
m = – di / do = -(60)/30 = -2
The minus sign indicates that the image is inverted.
The image is 2 times greater than the object.
The image height (hi) :
m = hi / ho
hi = m ho = (-2)10 = -20 cm
The minus sign indicates that the image is inverted.
The properties of the image
– real
– inverted
– the image height is greater than the object height
– the image distance is greater than the object distance
4. Based on the figure below, determine the focal length of the converging lens!
Known :
Object distance (do) = 20 cm
Image distance (di) = 30 cm
Wanted : The focal length (f)
Solution :
1/do + 1/di = 1/f
do = object distance (plus sign because rays pass through object)
di = image distance (plus sign because rays pass through image)
f = focal length (plus sign because rays pass through the focal point or the focal point is real)
The focal length :
1/f = 1/20 + 1/30 = 3/60 + 2/60 = 5/60
f = 60/5 = 12 cm
5. Object’s distance is 30 cm and the focal length is 20 cm. Determine the magnification of the image.
Known :
The focal length of the converging lens (f) = 20 cm
The plus sign indicates that the focal point is real or rays pass through the image.
Object distance (do) = 30 cm
Wanted : The magnification of image (M)
Solution :
Image distance :
1/di = 1/f – 1/do = 1/20 – 1/30 = 3/60 – 2/60 = 1/60
di = 60/1 = 60 cm
The magnification of image :
M = di / do = 60 cm / 30 cm = 60/30 = 2 times
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