Chapter 36

Geometric Optics

Multiple Choice

1. A clown 2 m tall looks at himself in a full-length mirror (floor-to-ceiling). Where in the

mirror must he look to see his feet?

a. 1 m from the floor

b. 50 cm from the floor
c. 25 cm from the floor
d. at the bottom of the mirror
e. 1.5 m from the floor

2. A concave mirror has a focal length of 20 cm. What is the position (in cm) of the resulting
image if the image is inverted and four times smaller than the object?

a. 15
b. 25
c. 50
d. 100
e. –15

3. A convex mirror has a focal length of –20 cm. What is the position of the resulting image
(in cm) if the image is upright and four times smaller than the object?

a. –100
b. –25
c. –50
d. –15
e. –10

4. A concave mirror has a focal length of 20 cm. What is the position (in cm) of the object if
the image is upright and is two times larger than the object?

a. 30
b. 20
c. 10
d. 40
e. 60

5. A concave mirror has a focal length of 20 cm. What is the magnification if the object's
distance is 100 cm?

a. 1/2
b. 1/4
c. –2
d. 4
e. –1/4

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2 Chapter 36

6. A convex mirror has a focal length of –20 cm. What is the object distance if the image
distance is –10 cm?

a. 10 cm
b. 40 cm
c. 60 cm
d. 20 cm
e. 30 cm

7. A concave mirror has a focal length of 20 cm. What is the magnification if the object and
image distances are 10 cm and –20 cm respectively?

a. 1
b. 2
c. 1/2
d. 1/4
e. –1/2

8. A concave mirror has a radius of curvature of 1 m. An object is placed 2 m in front of the

mirror. Determine the location of the image (in cm).

a. 127
b. 83
c. 67
d. 150
e. 200

9. An object 4-cm high is placed 15 cm in front of a convex mirror with a focal length of
–10 cm. What is the image position (in cm)?

a. –8
b. –4
c. –2
d. –6
e. 30

10. An object 15-cm high is placed 15 cm in front of a convex mirror with a focal length of
–10 cm. What is the image height (in cm)?

a. 2
b. 4
c. 6
d. 8
e. 30

11. An object is placed 10 cm in front of a concave mirror with a 20-cm focal length. Determine
the image location (in cm).

a. –20
b. –15
c. –10
d. –5
e. 6.7

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 Chapter 36 3

12. An object is placed 15 cm in front of a concave mirror with a focal length of 30 cm. What is
the magnification?

a. 1
b. 2
c. 1/2
d. 1/4
e. –2

13. A dentist uses a concave mirror (focal length 2 cm) to examine some teeth. If the distance
from the object to the mirror is 1 cm, what is the magnification of the tooth?

a. 6
b. 1
c. 4
d. 2
e. 1.5

14. The actual depth of a shallow pool 1-m deep is not the same as the apparent depth seen
when you look straight down at the pool from above. How deep will it appear (in cm)?

a. 133
b. 75
c. 90
d. 117
e. 100

15. Bottles of perfume sometimes have thick glass (n = 1.5) walls which give the impression
the volume is larger than it is. Assume a cylindrical bottle has an inner radius of 1 cm and
an outer radius of 2 cm. How thick (in cm) would the wall appear if you could see a mark
on the inside surface?

a. 0.80
b. 0.51
c. 0.72
d. 80
e. 12

16. Bottles of perfume sometimes have thick glass (n = 1.5) walls which give the impression
the volume is larger than it really is. Assume a cylindrical bottle with an inner radius of
1 cm and an outer radius of 2 cm. What percentage of the apparent volume is the real
volume?

a. 95%
b. 60%
c. 80%
d. 69%
e. 75%

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4 Chapter 36

17. A plane convex lens is made of glass (n = 1.5) with one flat surface and the other having a
radius of 20 cm. What is the focal length (in cm) of the lens?

a. 20
b. 30
c. 40
d. 10
e. 50

18. An object 20-cm high is placed 50 cm in front of a lens whose focal length is 5.0 cm. Where
will the image be located (in cm)?

a. 5.13
b. 5.55
c. 5.72
d. 5.93
e. 4.55

19. An object 20-cm high is placed 2 m in front of a lens whose focal length is 5.0 cm. What is
the size of the image (in mm)?

a. 8
b. 6
c. 7
d. 5
e. 3

20. An object 50-cm high is placed 1 m in front of a converging lens whose focal length is 1.5 m.
Determine the image height (in cm).

a. 77
b. 150
c. 52
d. 17
e. 83

21. An object is placed 15 cm in front of a diverging lens whose focal length is 12 cm. Where
will the image be located (in cm)?

a. –6.7
b. –7.2
c. –0.15
d. –60
e. –5.0

22. A camera has a converging lens with a focal length of 55 mm. If the f-number is 2.8, what
is the diameter of the lens (in mm)?

a. 10
b. 31
c. 0.5
d. 20
e. 50

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 Chapter 36 5

23. The purpose of prescription glasses for a near-sighted person is to bring distant objects

a. to the far point of the eye

b. to the near point of the eye
c. to the retina of the eye
d. none of the above

24. A far-sighted student has a near point of 1 m. Calculate the focal length (in cm) of the
glasses needed so the near point will be normal (25 cm).

a. 72
b. 25
c. 33
d. 100
e. –33

25. A 10-cm focal length converging lens is used to magnify small newspaper print 2-mm high.
Calculate the height of the image (in mm) for the maximum magnification for a normal
eye.

a. 3.5
b. 7
c. 9.2
d. 12
e. 2.5

26. A compound microscope is made with an objective lens (f0 = 0.9 cm) and an eyepiece
(f0 = 1.1 cm). The lenses are separated by a distance of 10 cm. If an object is 1 cm in front of
the objective lens, where will the final image of the eyepiece be located?

a. –30
b. –15
c. –23
d. –11
e. –9

27. A compound microscope is made with an objective lens (f0 = 0.9 cm) and an eyepiece
(fe = 1.1 cm). The lenses are separated by a distance of 10 cm. What is the angular
magnification? (Assume the near point is 25 cm).

a. –252
b. –450
c. –770
d. –980
e. –635

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6 Chapter 36

28. A telescope is constructed with two lenses separated by a distance of 25 cm. The focal
length of the objective is 20 cm. The focal length of the eyepiece is 5 cm. If an object is
100 m from the first lens, where is the final image of the eyepiece (in cm)?

a. –620
b. –380
c. –460
d. –740
e. –500

29. A telescope is constructed with two lenses separated by a distance of 25 cm. The focal
length of the objective is 20 cm. The focal length of the eyepiece is 5 cm. Calculate the
angular magnification of the telescope.

a. 6
b. 4
c. 8
d. 10
e. 5

Conceptual Problems

30. A magnifying glass has a convex lens of focal length 15 cm. At what distance from a
postage stamp should you hold this lens to get a magnification of +2?

31. A contact lens is made of plastic with an index of refraction of 1.50. The lens has an outer
radius of curvature of +2.0 cm and an inner radius of curvature of +2.5 cm. What is the
focal length and the power of the lens?

32. A concave mirror with a radius of curvature of 1 m is illuminated by a candle located on

the symmetry axis 3 m from the mirror. Where is the image of the candle?

33. Suppose an object is placed 6 cm in front of a lens that has a focal length of 4 cm. Where is
the image located? What is the magnification and the character of the image?

34. If you stand closer to a concave mirror than a distance of one focal length, the image you
see is

a. real and inverted.

b. real and upright.
c. virtual and inverted.
d. virtual and upright.
e. none of the above because you do not get an image.

35. When you stand in front of a convex mirror, the image you see is

a. real and inverted.

b. real and upright.
c. virtual and inverted.
d. virtual and upright.
e. real and inverted if your distance from the mirror is greater than two focal lengths.

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 Chapter 36 7

36. As seen in air by a person looking down on the surface, the image of an object beneath the
surface formed by light rays leaving a flat refracting surface of a medium of refractive
index n > 1, is

a. real and closer to the viewer than the object.

b. virtual and closer to the viewer than the object.
c. real and farther from the viewer than the object.
d. virtual and farther from the viewer than the object.
e. virtual and the same distance from the viewer as the object.

37. A magician can make a candle look as if it is burning under water by focusing light from a
candle flame burning in air directly on top of an underwater candle. To do this you want to
use a

a. concave mirror farther than one focal length from the burning candle.
b. a convex mirror farther than one focal length from the burning candle.
c. a biconcave lens farther than one focal length from the burning candle.
d. a concave mirror closer than one focal length to the burning candle.
e. a convex lens closer than one focal length to the burning candle.

38. If a convex lens were made out of very thin plastic filled with air, and were then placed
underwater where n = 1.33 and where the lens would have an effective index of refraction
n = 1, the lens would act in the same way

a. as a concave mirror in air.

b. as a concave lens in air.
c. as a convex lens in air.
d. as a flat refracting surface between water and air as seen from the water side.
e. as the glasses worn by a farsighted person.

© 2000 by Harcourt College Publishers. All rights reserved.

8 Chapter 36

© 2000 by Harcourt College Publishers. All rights reserved.

 Chapter 36 1

Chapter 36

Geometric Optics

1. Answer: a

2. Answer: b

3. Answer: d

4. Answer: c

5. Answer: e

6. Answer: d

7. Answer: b

8. Answer: c

9. Answer: d

10. Answer: c

11. Answer: a

12. Answer: b

13. Answer: d

14. Answer: b

15. Answer: a

16. Answer: d

17. Answer: c

18. Answer: b

19. Answer: d

20. Answer: b

21. Answer: a

22. Answer: d

23. Answer: a

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2 Chapter 36

24. Answer: c

25. Answer: b

26. Answer: d

27. Answer: a

28. Answer: a

29. Answer: b

30. Answer: 7.5 cm

31. Answer: +20 cm, +5 diopters

32. Answer: 60 cm in front of the mirror

33. Answer: 12 cm beyond the 4 cm lens, M = –2, the image is real and inverted

34. Answer: d

35. Answer: d

36. Answer: b

37. Answer: a

38. Answer: b

© 2000 by Harcourt College Publishers. All rights reserved.