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Rules for ray tracing

  1. A ray entering a converging lens parallel to its axis passes through the focal point F of the lens on the other side.
  2. A ray entering a diverging lens parallel to its axis seems to come from the focal point F.
  3. A ray passing through the center of either a converging or a diverging lens does not change direction.
  4. A ray entering a converging lens through its focal point exits parallel to its axis.
  5. A ray that enters a diverging lens by heading toward the focal point on the opposite side exits parallel to the axis.

Image formation by thin lenses

In some circumstances, a lens forms an obvious image, such as when a movie projector casts an image onto a screen. In other cases, the image is less obvious. Where, for example, is the image formed by eyeglasses? We will use ray tracing for thin lenses to illustrate how they form images, and we will develop equations to describe the image formation quantitatively.

Consider an object some distance away from a converging lens, as shown in [link] . To find the location and size of the image formed, we trace the paths of selected light rays originating from one point on the object, in this case the top of the person’s head. The figure shows three rays from the top of the object that can be traced using the ray tracing rules given above. (Rays leave this point going in many directions, but we concentrate on only a few with paths that are easy to trace.) The first ray is one that enters the lens parallel to its axis and passes through the focal point on the other side (rule 1). The second ray passes through the center of the lens without changing direction (rule 3). The third ray passes through the nearer focal point on its way into the lens and leaves the lens parallel to its axis (rule 4). The three rays cross at the same point on the other side of the lens. The image of the top of the person’s head is located at this point. All rays that come from the same point on the top of the person’s head are refracted in such a way as to cross at the point shown. Rays from another point on the object, such as her belt buckle, will also cross at another common point, forming a complete image, as shown. Although three rays are traced in [link] , only two are necessary to locate the image. It is best to trace rays for which there are simple ray tracing rules. Before applying ray tracing to other situations, let us consider the example shown in [link] in more detail.

First of four images shows an incident ray 1 coming from an object (a girl ) placed on the axis. After refraction, the ray passes through F on other side of the lens. Second of four images shows an incident ray 2 passing through the center without any deviation. Third of four images shows an incident ray passing through F, which after refraction goes parallel to the axis. Fourth image shows a combination of all three rays, 1, 2, and 3, incident on a convex lens; after refraction, they converge or cross at a point below the axis at some distance from F. Here the height of the object h sub o is the height of the girl above the axis and h sub i is the height of the image below the axis. The distance from the center to point F is small f. The distance from the center to the girl is d sub o and that to the image is d sub i.
Ray tracing is used to locate the image formed by a lens. Rays originating from the same point on the object are traced—the three chosen rays each follow one of the rules for ray tracing, so that their paths are easy to determine. The image is located at the point where the rays cross. In this case, a real image—one that can be projected on a screen—is formed.

The image formed in [link] is a real image    , meaning that it can be projected. That is, light rays from one point on the object actually cross at the location of the image and can be projected onto a screen, a piece of film, or the retina of an eye, for example. [link] shows how such an image would be projected onto film by a camera lens. This figure also shows how a real image is projected onto the retina by the lens of an eye. Note that the image is there whether it is projected onto a screen or not.

Practice Key Terms 8

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Source:  OpenStax, College physics. OpenStax CNX. Jul 27, 2015 Download for free at http://legacy.cnx.org/content/col11406/1.9
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