Lakeside High School

Converging Lenses
Tasnim, Aziz, Murtaza

Tasnim Khan
3/16/2011
Purpose

The purpose of this lab was to investigate the relationships between the positions of the lenses
and objects, namely the window for the object at infinity and the candle for the closer object,
and the position and size of the images produced. The lenses used in this lab were converging
lenses, so the images produced were real.

Materials

 1 screen support rider

 1 cardboard image screen with metric scale
 2 converging lenses
 1 lens support
 1 meter stick
 2 meter stick supports
 1 metric ruler
 1 candle
 1 candle holder

Procedure

1. Set up the meter stick, meter stick supports, image screen, and lens with a clear shot to
the window.
2. Find the focal length of the lens by focusing a point image of the window on the image
screen and measuring the distance from the lens to the image.
3. Place the lens far enough from the candle to give an object distance greater than twice
the focal length of the lens. Move the image screen along the meter stick until the
image is as well defined as possible. Read and record your data for the positions of the
object, lens, and image to the nearest millimeter on the meter stick. Also, record the
object distance, image distance, the height of the object, and the height of the image.
4. Repeat the previous step four times with the lens at a different position each time.
5. Set the object distance less than one focal length and place your eye close to the lens.
Look through the lens, and record what you see.
6. Repeat all previous steps with the second lens.
Data

1st Lens: Focal Length=9.3 cm

Trial Position of Position of Position of Do (cm) Di (cm)

Lens (cm) Object (cm) Image (cm)
1 50 80 36.6 30 -13.4
2 50 75 34.5 25 -15.5
3 50 70 31.5 20 -18.5
4 50 67.5 28.5 17.5 -21.5
5 50 65 24.5 15 -25.5
6 50 62 16.5 12 -33.5

2nd Lens: Focal Length=20.5 cm (we had to use three meter sticks)

Trial Position of Position of Position of Do (cm) Di (cm)

Lens (cm) Object (cm) Image (cm)
1 50 105 18 55 -32
2 50 100 16.3 50 -33.7
3 50 95 15 45 -35
4 50 91 10 41 -40
5 50 85 2 35 -48
6 50 80 -15 30 -65
7 50 75 -54 25 -104

Analysis

F= ( )-1
1st Lens

Trial Focal Length (cm)

1 9.3
2 9.6
3 9.6
4 9.6
5 9.4
6 8.8
Average Focal Length: 9.4 cm
 2nd Lens

Trial Focal Length (cm)

1 20.2
2 20.1
3 19.7
4 20.2
5 20.2
6 20.5
7 20.2
Average Focal Length: 20.2 cm

Inverse of Image Distance vs. Inverse of Object

Distance for 1st Lens
Inverse of Image Distance (cm)

0
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09
-0.01

-0.02
y = 0.8879x - 0.1004
-0.03

-0.04

-0.05

-0.06

-0.07

-0.08
Inverse of Object Distance (cm)
 Inverse of Image Distance vs. Inverse of Object
Distance for 2nd Lens
0
Inverse of Image Distance

0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03 0.035 0.04 0.045

-0.005

-0.01 y = 1.0271x - 0.0503

-0.015
(cm)

-0.02

-0.025

-0.03

-0.035
Inverse of Object Distance (cm)

M=

1st Lens

Trial Magnification
1 .45
2 .62
3 .93
4 1.23
5 1.7
6 2.79

2nd Lens

Trial Magnification
1 .58
2 .67
3 .78
4 .98
5 1.37
6 2.17
7 4.16
Conclusion

Percent Error for the Focal Length of the 1st Lens:

*100

Percent Error = 1.2%

Percent Error for the Focal Length of the 1st Lens:

*100

Percent Error = 1.5%

Linear Equation for 1st Lens: y=0.8879x-0.1004

Linear Equation for 2nd Lens: y=1.0271x-0.0503

Ray Diagrams
First Lens

F= 9.3cm

Second Lens
F= 20.5cm