Uses and Applications of Mirrors and Lenses

Uses of Mirrors

Mirrors have become part of our daily routine. At home, we normally use plane mirrors, a type of mirror
that can be found in almost every household. We use this to check on what’s needed to be fixed with
the way we look.

When these plane mirrors are placed next to each other at an angle, it gives our eyes not only one or
two images, but more than that.

This is called as multiple images. The mechanism of multiple images is used in the fun and colorful
kaleidoscope.

One of the properties of images formed by a mirror that you learned is called the lateral inversion,
wherein your right becomes your left and your left becomes your right.

Maybe along the way to school, you happened to see an ambulance rushing its way to the hospital.
Have you noticed that the word AMBULANCE is written in reverse? Why do you think is this so?

Let’s have a little recall of what a mirror is. Technically, a mirror is a reflective surface, made of glass
coated with metals, which bounces off light that strikes its surface and form a visual representation or
projection of an object called image.

Questions like: How do images form in a mirror? How is one able to see his or her image in the mirror?
What makes up a mirror?

These were the queries you asked before going through the modules about Mirrors and Lenses, but
surely these learnings were all made clear in the prior modules about the said topics

In the previous modules about mirrors, you found out that mirrors produce different types of images
depending on their shapes. Plane and convex mirrors form images called virtual images, upright and
erect. Other type of image formed by a mirror is called real image (inverted upside down and larger
than the original image). Concave mirrors can produce both virtual and real images.

Applications of Concave and Convex Mirrors

Concave Mirrors

A concave mirror is a spherical mirror, which has a reflecting surface, dented inwards. Concave mirrors
reflect and focus incoming light rays (parallel) at a point, called the focus point

Convex Mirrors

A car’s side mirrors enable the driver and its passenger to see the vehicles that are behind. Also, while in
mall supermarkets and in some convenience stores, you may notice mirrors hanging on corners from
which you can see your reflection and those of other people. These are just some of the applications of
convex mirrors.

Uses of Lenses
In your lessons about the behavior of light in Grade 8, you learned that light is not reflected when it hits
a surface. Light can also bend or refract when travelling from one medium to another. In this part of the
module, let us talk about another object which plays a vital role in the study of the behavior of light,
lenses. Like the mirror, the lens is usually made of glass. The only thing that makes it different is that the
lens can also be made of other transparent materials like plastics that allow light to pass through,
instead of bouncing the light rays off

Lenses come also in two types, namely: convex (converging) and concave (diverging) lenses. When these
lenses are combined, the produced lens is called meniscus lens. This type has one concave and one
convex lens on opposite sides

On Lenses

The discovery of the uses of lenses has opened a lot of doors for many other discoveries in the field of
Science. It has allowed scientists to explore what’s beyond the Earth and importantly, through our eyes
which has built-in natural lenses, we are able to enjoy all of these wonderful things and creations. The
prior modules about mirrors and lenses explained the principles behind how lenses work.

Uses of Convex Lenses

Sometimes called a positive lens, a convex lens is characterized by its bulging surfaces that is directed
outward making it thicker at the center than on its edges. It is also known as converging lens because as
light passes through it, its rays bend inward and converge at a spot located beyond the lens known as
the focal point

causing the object behind the lens to magnify or to appear bigger than its actual size. Image
produced by convex lenses can be a virtual or real image.

Uses of Convex Lenses

If both sides of the lens are curved inward, then that type of convex lens is called biconvex typically seen
in magnifying glasses. If only one side of the lens is curved inward and the other has a flat surface, it is
called as plano-convex.

Microscopes

Among the applications in which convex lenses are used is found in compound microscopes. A
microscope is an instrument that is used in viewing small objects and microorganisms that are
impossible for our unaided eyes to see. It uses lenses that can magnify objects 100x or even more than a
thousand times.

There are many types of microscopes, among this is the most commonly used in school laboratories, the
light microscope. This type of microscope uses at least two convex lenses, one on the eyepiece near the
observer’s eye and the other one is the objective lens located near the object being observed.

Camera Lenses

As illustrated in the 1st image above, DSLR cameras use convex lenses where light rays pass through.
These light rays are directed towards the slanted mirror located near the camera shutter, and then
reflected from a translucent screen projected to another mirror until it reaches the viewer’s eye.
Through this, the photographer will be able to see what he is capturing

The image formed by the passing of light rays, from the object through the lens directing to the film of
the camera, is affected by the angle of the light entry.

The closer the lens to the object, the farther the beams converge. The farther the object from
the lens, the shorter the distance the light beams converge. That is how the camera works. Though it
seems complicated, the entire process is just seconds-long.

The Human Eye is a Natural Camera

Our eyes are our natural cameras. Some of the basic and fundamental parts of a camera functions just
like how the different parts of our eyes work. Among these are the lens, the aperture, iris diaphragm,
shutter, and photographic film.

Concave Lens

Contrary to concave lens, convex lens has thicker edges curving towards the center, causing light to
diverge, hence it is called as the diverging lens. It spreads out light, producing virtual image, making
objects appear smaller and farther than the way it actually is.

Although convex lenses can magnify objects, it still cannot transfer light accurately. That’s why an object
would appear blurry. So, makers of binoculars and telescopes added concave lenses to these
instruments in order to focus objects that are too far for our eyes to see.

Myopia (Nearsightedness) Correction

Concave lenses, such as eyeglasses and contact lenses are used in correcting myopia (nearsightedness).
Myopia is a condition in which light rays focus in front of the eye’s retina instead of, on the retina. The
result of this condition is a makes distant object to appear blurry, while near objects appear normal.

Hyperopia (farsightedness) Correction

Hyperopia is the eye condition that enables someone to see distant object clearly but makes nearby
object seem blurry. This condition is due to the inability one’s eyes to focus on objects closer to the
eyes.

Hyperopia (farsightedness) Correction

A person with hyperopia has a shortened eyeball, in which the retina lies closer than usual to the
cornea and lens.

This disorder leads to the formation of the image nearby object to form beyond retina.

Hyperopia (farsightedness) Correction

Hyperopia is the opposite of myopia, another vision problem that needs correction.

To correct hyperopia, converging meniscus converging lens is used. The converging meniscus lens
converge light before it enters the eye eventually reducing the image distance.