LAB REPORT

CODE: PHY260
Course: OPTICS AND WAVES
Experiment Name : DETERMINING THE FOCAL LENGTH OF A CONVEX LENS

Date of Experiment : 14 APRIL 2020

Group Leader : -
Member’s Name & Student ID 1 VIVIANA ANAK VERY (2018671504)
No
2 CASSY LUGAK (2018433928)

3 NUR ATHIRAH BINTI JAMALUDDIN (2018406302)

4 ANGJELLY ALLYA ANAK NGAUH (2018236062)

5 DAYANG FAZERA BINTI AWANG SIMON (2018232948)

6 THIERRY HENRY ANAK DANIEL (2018643182)

Group : 1/2/3/4/5/
Mark Distribution:
Attendance 5%
Set-up equipment skills 10%
Understanding procedure 10%
Safety Aspect 10%
Pace of work 5%
Title, Objective, Apparatus 5%
Procedure 5%
Observation/ result 15%
Discussion 20%
Conclusion 10%
Reference 5%

Total 100%

Fakulti Sains Gunaan UiTM Sarawak

TITLE
Determining the focal length of a convex lens

OBJECTIVE

To determine the focal length of a convex lens by using lens equation

INTRODUCTION

The focal length of a lens, f , is related to the object distance, p, and image

distance, q, according to the lens equation.

Fig.1 (Formation of image by a converging lens)

Fakulti Sains Gunaan UiTM Sarawak

PROCEDURE
1. We do this experiment by click on the simulation link
https://ophysics.com/l12.html
2. We have used the convex lens, we move the point named " Focus' " towards the
left or right and set the focal length to 4 cm (f(theoretical) = 4cm) as in Fig.2 .
3. Referring to Fig.2 again, we move the tip of the "Object" arrow upwards or
downwards to set the object’s height to 1 cm.
4. We move the tip of the "Object" arrow left and right from 2 cm to 10 cm. This is
known as the object distance, do @ u.
5. As shown in Fig.2, place the object at a distance of 10 cm from the lens.
6. We recorded the image distant, di @ v into the table.
7. We changed the object distance to 8 cm, 6 cm, 4 cm and 2 cm.
8. We repeated step (5) for each different object distance.

Fig.2 (Formation of image by a converging lens using ophysics.com simulation)

Fakulti Sains Gunaan UiTM Sarawak

RESULTS

u (cm) v (cm) f (cm) Magnification, M

2 -4.00 4 +2.00

4 0 0 0

6 12 4 -2.00

8 8.00 4 -1.00

10 6.67 4 -0.67

Fakulti Sains Gunaan UiTM Sarawak

CALCULATIONS
1. Calculate the focal length using lens equation and find the average value.
When u= 2 cm ;

1 = 1 +1
d
f dO i

1 =1 + 1
f 2 4
f=4
When u = 4 cm ;
1 = 1 +1
d
f dO i

1 =1 + 1
f 4 0
f=4

When u = 6 cm

1 = 1 +1
d
f dO i

1 =1 +1
f 6 12
f=4

When u = 8 cm

1 = 1 + 1
f dO di
1 =1 + 1
f 8 8
f=4
Fakulti Sains Gunaan UiTM Sarawak
When u = 10 cm

1 = 1 + 1
d
f dO i
1 =1 + 1
f 10 6.67
f=4
4 4 4 4 4
Average value, f =
5
= 4 cm

2. Compare the value of the theoretical and experimental focal length by calculating the
percentage error.

Percentage error % = experimental value - theoretical value

experimental value
|4 4|
= X100% 4

=0%
There is no percentage error because this experiment is done by simulation online.

Fakulti Sains Gunaan UiTM Sarawak

DISCUSSION

In this experiment, we are required to determine the focal length of a convex lens by
using Lens equation. The focal length ( f ) is the distance between the center of a convex
lens or a concave lens and the focal point - the point where parallel rays of light meet, or
converge. It uses unit of length to measures a distance such as centimeters(cm),
meters(m), or inches(in).

Convex lens is a curved refracting lens and thicker at the middle which will obey
Snell’s law and refract light accordingly. A convex lens can converge light rays because it
makes parallel light rays passing through it bend inward and meet or converge at a spot
just beyond the lens known as the focal point ( f ). Since the surface is curved, different
rays of light will refract to different degrees which the outermost rays will refract the
most.

In this experiment, we set the focal length to 4cm and fixed. When an object is
positioned inside the focal length ( f ) which is 2cm, the image is virtual and upright, the
height of image greater than the height of object, ( hi > ho ) and the distance of object is
less than 0 ( di < 0 ). In this case, the image is enlarged and the magnification is greater
than 1.

Then, we put the object at the focal length ( f ) which is 4cm. When the object is
located at the focal point, there is no image is formed. The refracted rays neither converge
nor diverge. After refracting, the light rays are travelling parallel to each other and cannot
produce an image.

Next, when we positioned the object at 6cm, which is between focal length and
twice the distance of the focal length 2f, the image is real and inverted. In this cases, the
height of the image is greater than height of the object ( h i > ho ) and the distance of image
is greater than 2f ( di > 2f ) . The light rays actually converge at the image location.

Fakulti Sains Gunaan UiTM Sarawak

 After that, we positioned the object at 8cm which is twice the distance of focal length.
When the object is located at 8cm, the image also located at 8cm on the other side of lens
too. In this case, inverted and real is the characteristic of the image. Both height of object
and image is equal ( hi = ho ) and the distance of the image is twice of the focal length ( di
= 2f ) . The image dimension also equal to the object dimension.

When we positioned the object at 10cm, which is more than twice distanse of focal
length, the image is located somewhere between 8cm and 4cm on the other side of the
lens. The image is real an inverted. That is to say, when the object is right side up, then
the image is upside down. From this experiment, we can notice that the image is
reduced in size.

Overall, this experiment was success because of no percentage error and results
were consistent with the lens equation and the properties of lenses. There is no such
as human error since we use simulation for this experiment.

Fakulti Sains Gunaan UiTM Sarawak

CONCLUSION

From the experiment that we’ve conducted, we confidently would say lens equation
proven our experiment data is accurate. By using the lens equation, we conclude that there is
much specific property of lenses applicable in getting the focal length such as the image and
object distance are interchangeable depending on how the lens positioned.

REFERENCES
 H.D Young, R.A Freedman, Sears and Zemansky’s University Physics with Modern
Technology Update, Chapter 34, Pearson Education, Limited, Singapore, 2014.

 Guiterrez, R. et. al., Physics 72.1 Laboratory Manual, 2nd ed, 2001.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2GF6cvPew
 https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/refrn/Lesson-5/Converging-Lenses-
Object-Image-Relations
 http://jeremynarag.wordpress.com/.2016/02/26/determining-focal-lengths-of-
concave-and-convex-lenses/.
 https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/.refrn/Lesson-5/Converging-Lenses-
Object-Image-Relations
 https://sciencing.com/calculate-focal-length-lens-7650552.html

Fakulti Sains Gunaan UiTM Sarawak