Module 16 Physics Problems

Lesson 1 Plane Mirrors a. What is the angle at which the light ray is
reflected from the second mirror?
Mastering Concepts b. The mirrors in the image are a
1. How does specular reflection differ from retroreflector. A retroreflector is a device
diffuse reflection? that reflects incoming light rays back in a
direction opposite to that of the incident
2. What is meant by the term “normal to the rays. Copy the diagram below and draw
surface”? the reflected light rays to show that this
mirror system acts as a retroreflector.
3. Where is the image produced by a plane
mirror located? 11. A light ray strikes a mirror at an angle of 53°
to the normal. What is the angle of
4. Describe the properties of a plane mirror. reflection? What is the angle between
the incident ray and the reflected ray?
5. A student believes that very sensitive
photographic film can detect a virtual 12. Draw a ray diagram of a plane mirror to
image. The student puts photographic film show that if you want to see yourself from
at the location of a virtual image. Does this your feet to the top of your head, the mirror
attempt succeed? Explain. must be at least half your height.

6. How can you prove to someone that an 13. You have a small plane mirror that will be
image is a real image? mounted on a wall. If you want to see an
image of your knee where should you place
7. Is your image as seen in a plane mirror two the mirror?
dimensional (like a photograph) or three
dimensional? How can you tell? 14. Picture in a Mirror Penny wishes to take a
picture of her image in a plane mirror. If the
Mastering Problems camera is 1.2 m in front of the mirror, at
8. A light ray incident upon a mirror makes an what distance should the camera lens be
angle of 36° with the mirror. What is the focused?
angle between the incident ray and the
reflected ray? 15. A light ray strikes a mirror at an angle of 60°
to the normal. The mirror is then rotated 18°
9. A light ray strikes a mirror at an angle of 38° clockwise, as shown. What is the angle that
to the normal. What is the angle that the the reflected ray makes with the mirror?
reflected ray makes with the normal?
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10. Two adjacent plane mirrors form a right

angle, as shown. A light ray is incident upon
one of the mirrors at an angle of 30° to the
normal.

Inspire Physics 1 Physics Problems

 Module 16 continued

16. Two plane mirrors are connected at their 27. Rearview Mirror How far does the image
sides so that they form a 45° angle between of a car appear behind a convex mirror,
them. A light ray strikes one mirror at an with a focal length of 26.0 m, when the car
angle of 30° to the normal and then reflects is 10.0 m from the mirror?
off the second mirror. Calculate the angle of
reflection of the light ray off the second 28. Star Image Light from a star is collected by
mirror. a concave mirror. How far from the mirror is
the image of the star if the radius of
Lesson 2 Curved Mirrors curvature is 150 cm?

Mastering Concepts 29. An object located 18 cm from a convex

17. An object produces a virtual image in a mirror produces a virtual image 9 cm from
concave mirror. Where is the object the mirror. What is the magnification of the
located? image?

18. What is the defect that all concave spherical 30. Describe the image produced by the object
mirrors have and what causes it? in the diagram as real or virtual, inverted or
upright, and smaller or larger than the
19. What is the equation relating the focal point, object.
object position, and image position?

20. What is the relationship between the radius

of curvature and the focal length of a
concave mirror?

21. If you know the image position and object

position relative to a curved mirror, how can
you determine the mirror’s magnification?

22. Why are convex mirrors used as rearview

mirrors?

23. Why is it impossible for a convex mirror to 31. Reverse Problem Write a physics problem
form a real image?
with real-life objects for which the following
equation would be part of the solution:
Mastering Problems 1/0.40 m = 1/0.75 m + 1/xo.
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24. Fun House A boy is standing near a

convex mirror in a fun house at a fair. He
notices that his image appears to be 32. Ranking Task Several object and image
0.60 m tall. If the magnification of the mirror heights for various mirrors are listed. Rank
is 1/3, what is the boy’s height? them according to magnification, from
greatest to least. Specifically indicate any
25. You place an object 30.0 cm from a ties.
concave mirror of 15.0 cm focal length. The A: object 1.0 cm, image 0.5 cm
object is 1.8 cm tall. Use the mirror equation B: object 2.0 cm, image 0.5 cm
to find the image position. What is the
C: object 2.0 cm, image 1.0 cm
image height?
D: object 5.0 cm, image 7.0 cm
26. A concave mirror has a focal length of E: object 3.0 cm, image 2.0 cm
10.0 cm. What is its radius of curvature?

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 Module 16 continued

33. Dental Mirror A dentist uses a small mirror

with a radius of curvature of 40 mm to
Lesson 3 Refraction of Light
locate a cavity in a patient’s tooth. If the Mastering Concepts
mirror is concave and is held 16 mm from 39. How does the angle of incidence compare
the tooth, what is the magnification of the with the angle of refraction when a light ray
image? passes from air into glass at a nonzero
angle?
34. Sunlight falls on a concave mirror and forms
an image that is 3.0 cm from the mirror. An 40. How does the angle of incidence compare
object that is 24 mm tall is placed 12.0 cm with the angle of refraction when a light ray
from the mirror. Sketch the ray diagram to leaves glass and enters air at a nonzero
show the location of the image. Use the angle?
mirror equation to calculate the image
position. How tall is the image? 41. Regarding refraction, what is the critical
angle?
35. You place a 3.0-cm-tall object 22.4 cm from
a concave mirror. If the mirror has a radius 42. Ranking Task The diagram depicts a ray
of curvature of 34.0 cm, what are the image of light traveling from air into several
position and height? mediums. Rank the mediums according to
index of refraction from greatest to least.
36. Shiny spheres that are placed on pedestals Specifically indicate any ties.
on a lawn are convex mirrors. One such
sphere has a diameter of 40.0 cm. A
12-cm-tall robin sits in a tree that is 1.5 m
from the sphere. Where is the image of the
robin and how tall is the image?

37. Find the image position and height for the

object shown.

43. Although the light coming from the Sun is

refracted while passing through Earth’s
atmosphere, the light is not separated into
its spectrum. What does this indicate about
the speeds of different colors of light
traveling through air?
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44. Explain why the Moon looks red during a

lunar eclipse.

Mastering Problems
45. Refer to Table 1. Use the index of refraction
38. Jeweler’s Mirror A jeweler inspects a of diamond to calculate the speed of light in
watch with a diameter of 3.0 cm by placing diamond.
it 8.0 cm in front of a concave mirror of 12.0-
cm focal length. Where is the watch’s 46. Light travels from flint glass into ethanol.
image? What is the image diameter? The angle of refraction in the ethanol is
25.0°. What is the angle of incidence in the
glass?

47. Refer to Table 1. Find the critical angle for a

diamond in air.

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 Module 16 continued

48. A beam of light strikes the flat, glass side of 51. Swimming Pool Lights A light source is
a water-filled aquarium at an angle of 40.0° located 2.0 m below the surface of a
to the normal. For glass, n = 1.50. swimming pool and 1.5 m from one edge of
the pool, as shown. The pool is filled to the
a. At what angle does the beam enter the
top with water. At what angle does the light
glass?
reaching the edge of the pool leave the
b. At what angle does the beam enter the water?
water?

49. A ray of light travels from air into a liquid, as

shown. The ray is incident upon the liquid at
an angle of 30.0°. The angle of refraction is
22.0°.Using Snell’s law, calculate the index
of refraction of the liquid.

Does the light viewed from this angle to

appear deeper or shallower than it actually
is?

52. The index of refraction of float glass is 1.53

for violet light, and it is 1.51 for red light.
What is the speed of violet light in float
Compare the calculated index of refraction glass? What is the speed of red light in float
to those in Table 1. What might the liquid glass?
be?
53. The critical angle for a special glass in air is
50. Aquarium Tank A thick sheet of plastic, 41.0°. What is the critical angle if the glass is
n = 1.500, is used as the side of an immersed in water?
aquarium tank. Light reflected from a fish in
the water has an angle of incidence of 54. A diamond’s index of refraction for red light,
656 nm, is 2.410, while that for blue light,
35.0°. At what angle does the light enter
434 nm, is 2.450. Suppose that white light
the air?
enters the diamond at 30.0°. Find the
angles of refraction for red and blue light.
Copyright ©McGraw-Hill Education

55. A ray of light in water has an angle of

incidence of 55.0°. What is the angle of
refraction in air?

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 Module 16 continued

56. The ray of light shown enters a 62. Locate and describe the physical properties
60°−60°−60° glass prism, n = 1.5. of the image produced by a convex lens
when an object is placed some distance
beyond 2F.

63. To project an image from a movie projector

onto a screen, the film is placed between F
and 2F of a converging lens. This arrange-
ment produces an image that is inverted.
Why does the filmed scene appear to be
upright when the film is viewed?

64. Describe how the eye focuses light.

a. Using Snell’s law of refraction, determine
65. What is the condition in which the focal
the angle θ2 to the nearest degree.
length of the eye is too short to focus light
b. Using elementary geometry, determine on the retina?
the value of θ1′.
66. What type of image is produced by the
57. The speed of light in clear plastic is objective lens in a refracting telescope?
1.90×108 m/s. A ray of light strikes the plastic How do you know this?
at an angle of 22.0°. At what angle is the
ray refracted? 67. The prisms in binoculars increase the
distance between the objective lenses.
58. A light ray enters a block of float glass, as Why is this useful?
illustrated in the diagram Use a ray diagram
to trace the path of the ray until it leaves the 68. What is the purpose of a camera’s reflex
glass. mirror?

Mastering Problems
69. The focal length of a convex lens is 17 cm. A
candle is placed 34 cm in front of the lens.
Make a ray diagram to locate the image.

70. A cup on the table is placed 72.5 cm from a

converging lens with a focal length of 25.5
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cm. At what distance from the lens will the

Lesson 4 Convex and image be?
Concave Lenses 71. You are using a device with a convex lens
Mastering Concepts to reduce the size of a drawing 0.75 times.
59. How do the shapes of convex and concave If you place the drawing 24 cm from the
lenses differ? lens to get this result, what is the focal
length of the lens?
60. What factor, other than the curvature of the
surfaces of a lens, determines the location 72. A piece of candy is located 14.0 cm from
of the focal point of the lens? a convex lens that has a focal length of
6.0 cm. The candy is 2.4 cm tall.
61. Describe why precision optical instruments a. Draw a ray diagram to determine the
use achromatic lenses. location, size, and orientation of the
image.
b. Solve the problem mathematically.

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 Module 16 continued

73. An 8.0-cm-tall bottle of nail polish is placed 80. Microscope A slide of an onion cell is
15.0 cm in front of a converging lens. A real placed 12 mm from the objective lens of a
image is formed 10.0 cm from the lens. microscope. The focal length of the
a. What is the focal length of the lens? objective lens is 10.0 mm.
b. If the original lens is replaced with a lens a. How far from the lens is the image
having twice the focal length, what are formed?
the image position, size, and orientation? b. What is the magnification of this image?
c. The real image formed is located 10.0
74. A diverging lens has a focal length of mm beneath the eyepiece lens. If the
15.0 cm. A game piece placed near it forms focal length of the eyepiece is 20.0 mm,
a 2.0-cm-high image at a distance where does the final image appear?
of 5.0 cm from the lens.
d. What is the final magnification of this
a. What are the position and the height of compound system?
the game piece?
b. The diverging lens is now replaced by a 81. Telescope The optical system of a toy
converging lens with the same focal refracting telescope consists of a
length. What are the image position, converging objective lens with a focal
height, and orientation? Is it a virtual length of 20.0 cm, located 25.0 cm from a
image or a real image? converging eyepiece lens with a focal
length of 4.05 cm. It is used to view a 10.0-
75. Reverse Problem Write a physics problem cm-high object, located 425 cm from the
with real-life objects for which the following objective lens.
equation would be part of the solution: a. What are the image position, height, and
1/0.06 m + 1/xi = 1/0.04 m. orientation as formed by the objective
lens? Is this a real or virtual image?
76. Camera Lenses Camera lenses are b. The objective lens image becomes the
described in terms of their focal length. object for the eyepiece lens. What are
A 50.0-mm lens has a focal length of the image position, height, and
50.0 mm. orientation that a person sees when
looking into the telescope? Is this a real
a. A camera with a 50.0-mm lens is
or virtual image?
focused on an object 3.0 m away. What
is the image position?
b. A 1000.0-mm lens is focused on an Applying Concepts
object 125 m away. What is the image 82. A dry road is more of a diffuse reflector than
a wet road. Based on the diagram, explain
Copyright ©McGraw-Hill Education

position?
why a wet road appears blacker than a dry
77. Eyeglasses To clearly read a book 25 cm road does.
away, a farsighted girl needs the image
to be 45 cm from her eyes. What focal
length is needed for the lenses in her
eyeglasses?

78. Camera A camera lens with a focal length

of 35 mm is used to photograph a distant
object. How far from the lens is the real
image of the object? Explain.

79. Copy Machine The convex lens of a copy

machine has a focal length of 25.0 cm. A
letter to be copied is placed 40.0 cm from
the lens. How far from the lens is the copy
paper?

Inspire Physics 6 Physics Problems

 Module 16 continued

83. Book Pages Why is it desirable that the 92. Cracked Windshield If you crack the
pages of a book be rough rather than windshield of your car, you will see a silvery
smooth and glossy? line along the crack. The glass has
separated at the crack, and there is air in
84. Locate and describe the physical properties the crack. The silvery line indicates that light
of the image produced by a concave mirror is reflecting off the crack. Draw a ray
when the object is located at the center of diagram to explain this. What phenomenon
curvature. does this illustrate?

85. An object is located beyond the center of 93. Rainbows Why would you never see a
curvature of a spherical concave mirror. rainbow in the southern sky if you were in
Locate and describe the physical properties the northern hemisphere? In which
of the image. direction should you look to see rainbows
in the late afternoon if you are in the
86. Telescope You have to order a large southern hemisphere?
concave mirror for a high quality telescope.
Should you order a spherical mirror or a 94. A prism bends blue light more than it bends
parabolic mirror? Explain. red light. Explain.

87. List all the possible arrangements in which 95. How does the size of the critical angle
you could use a spherical mirror, either change as the index of refraction of the
concave or convex, to form a real image. medium the ray is traveling into increases?

88. Rearview Mirrors The outside rearview 96. Why is chromatic aberration a defect for
mirrors of cars often carry the warning lenses but not for mirrors?
“Objects in the mirror are closer than they
appear.” What kind of mirrors are these and 97. Which pair of mediums—air and water or air
what advantage do they have? and float glass—has the smaller critical
angle?
89. Which medium, A or B, in the diagram has a
larger index of refraction? Explain. 98. While under water, a swimmer uses a
magnifying lens to observe a small object
on the bottom of a swimming pool. She
discovers that the magnifying lens does not
magnify the object very well. Explain why
the magnifying lens is not functioning as it
would in air.
Copyright ©McGraw-Hill Education

99. When subjected to bright sunlight, the

pupils of your eyes are smaller than when
they are subjected to dimmer light. Explain
why your eyes can focus better in bright
light.

100. Binoculars The objective lenses in

90. How does the speed of light change as the binoculars form real upright images
index of refraction increases? compared to their objects. Where are the
images located relative to the eyepiece
91. Legendary Mirage According to legend, lenses?
Eric the Red sailed from Iceland and
discovered Greenland after he had seen
the island in a mirage. Describe how the
mirage might have occurred.

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 Module 16 continued

Mixed Review 109. Copy the diagram on a sheet of paper.

Draw rays on the diagram to determine the
101. Problem Posing Complete this problem so height and location of the image.
that the resulting image will be virtual: “An
object is placed 32 cm from a mirror….”.

102. An object is located 4.4 cm in front of a

concave mirror with a 24.0-cm radius.
Locate the image using the mirror equation.

103. A light ray strikes a plane mirror at an angle

of 28° to the normal. If the light source is
moved so that the angle of incidence
increases by 34°, what is the new angle of
reflection?

104. A concave mirror has a radius of curvature

of 26.0 cm. An object that is 2.4 cm tall is 110. A 4.0-cm-tall object is placed 12.0 cm from
placed 30.0 cm from the mirror. Where is a convex mirror. If the image of the object is
the image position? What is the image 2.0 cm tall, and the image is located at 26.0
height? cm, what is the focal length of the mirror?
Draw a ray diagram to answer the question.
105. A convex mirror is needed to produce an Use the mirror equation and the
image one-half the size of an object and magnification equation to verify your
located 36 cm behind the mirror. What focal answer.
length should the mirror have?
111. Surveillance Mirror A convenience store
106. What is the radius of curvature of a concave uses a surveillance mirror to monitor the
mirror that magnifies an object by a factor store’s aisles. Each mirror has a radius of
of 13.2 when the object is placed 20.0 cm curvature of 3.8 m.
from the mirror? a. What is the image position of a customer
who stands 6.5 m in front of the mirror?
107. A ball is positioned 22 cm in front of a
b. What is the image height of a customer
spherical mirror and forms a virtual image. If
who is 1.7 m tall?
the spherical mirror is replaced with a plane
mirror, the image appears 12 cm closer to
112. Inspection Mirror A production-line
the mirror. What kind of spherical mirror
inspector wants a mirror that produces an
Copyright ©McGraw-Hill Education

was used?
image that is upright with a magnification of
7.5 when it is located 14.0 mm from a
108. Magic Trick A magician uses a concave
machine part.
mirror with a focal length of 8.0 m to make a
3.0-m-tall hidden object, located 18.0 m a. What kind of mirror would do this job?
from the mirror, appear as a real image that b. What is its radius of curvature?
is seen by his audience. Draw a scale ray
diagram to find the height and location of 113. A 1.6-m-tall girl stands 3.2 m from a convex
the image. mirror. What is the focal length of the mirror
if her image appears to be 0.28 m tall?

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 Module 16 continued

114. The object in the diagram moves from 121. It is impossible to see through adjacent
position 1 to position 2. Copy the diagram sides of a square block of glass with an
onto a sheet of paper. Draw rays showing index of refraction of 1.5. The side adjacent
how the image changes. to the side that an observer is looking
through acts as a mirror. The diagram
shows the limiting case for the adjacent
side to not act like a mirror. Use your
knowledge of geometry and critical angles
to show that this ray configuration is not
achievable when nglass = 1.5.

115. A 3.0-cm-tall object is placed 20 cm in front

of a converging lens. A real image is formed
10 cm from the lens. What is the focal length
of the lens?

116. A critical angle of 45.0° is found for light

traveling through a block of float glass into 122. Apparent Depth Sunlight reflects
another medium. What is the index of diffusively off the bottom of an aquarium.
refraction for the medium the light is The diagram shows two of the many light
traveling into? rays that would reflect diffusively from a
point off the bottom of the tank and travel
117. Find the speed of light in antimony trioxide to the surface. The light rays refract into
if it has an index of refraction of 2.35. the air as shown. The red dashed line
extending back from the refracted light ray
118. Astronomy How many more minutes is a sight line that intersects with the vertical
would it take light from the Sun to reach ray at the location where an observer would
Earth if the space between them were filled see the image of the bottom of the tank.
with water rather than a vacuum? The Sun Compute the direction that the refracted ray
is 1.5×108 km from Earth. will travel above the surface of the water.
Copyright ©McGraw-Hill Education

119. Bank Teller Window A 25-mm-thick sheet

of plastic, n = 1.5, is used in a bank teller’s
window. A ray of light strikes the sheet at an
angle of 45°. The ray leaves the sheet at
45°, but at a different location. Use a ray
diagram to find the distance between the
ray that leaves and the one that would have
left if the plastic were not there.

120. Derive n = sin θ1/sin θ2 from the general

form of Snell’s law of refraction,
n1 sin θ 1 = n2 sin θ2. State any assumptions At what depth does the bottom of the tank
and restrictions. appear to be if you look into the water?
Divide this apparent depth into the true
depth and compare it to the index of
refraction.
Inspire Physics 9 Physics Problems
 Module 16 continued

123. What is the focal length of the cornea in 127. The image of the primary mirror in a
your eyes when you read a book that is Cassegrain telescope is the object of the
35.0 cm from them? The distance from secondary mirror. The focal length of the
each cornea to the retina is 19 mm. concave primary mirror is 1.0 m and that of
the convex secondary mirror −0.50 m. The
Thinking Critically secondary mirror is located 0.25 m from the
focal point of the primary mirror. What is the
124. Analyze and Conclude The object in the
object position for the primary mirror? What
diagram is located 22 cm from a concave
is the image position for the primary mirror?
mirror. What is the focal length of the
mirror?

128. Analyze and Conclude An optical

arrangement used in some telescopes
is the Cassegrain system. This telescope
uses a convex secondary mirror that is
positioned between the primary mirror and
the focal point of the primary mirror. A
single convex mirror produces only virtual
125. Apply Concepts The ball in the diagram images. Explain how the convex mirror in
slowly rolls toward the concave mirror on this telescope produces a real image that
the right. Describe how the size of the ball’s could be projected onto a CCD detector.
image changes as it rolls along.

129. Recognize Spatial Relationships White

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light traveling through air (n = 1.00) enters a

slab of glass, incident at exactly 45°. For
dense flint glass, n = 1.7708 for blue light
(λ = 435.8 nm) and n = 1.7273 for red light
126. A large serving spoon is spherical and
(λ = 643.8 nm). What is the difference in the
reflective on both the outside and inside. If
refracted angles of the red and blue light?
you hold the spoon at a distance of 3 cm
and look at your face in the part that holds
130. Compare and Contrast Find the critical
food, your image is 9 cm behind the spoon.
angle for light traveling from ice to air
If you flip the spoon over, where is your
image located? (n = 1.31). In a very cold world, would fiber-
optic cables made of ice or those made of
glass do a better job of keeping light inside
the cable? Explain.

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 Module 16 continued

131. Problem Posing ”A laser produces light of

wavelength 453 nm….” Complete this
Writing in Physics
problem so that it must be solved by using 135. Research a method used for grinding,
Snell’s law. polishing, and testing mirrors used in
reflecting telescopes. You may report either
132. Recognize Cause and Effect Your lab on methods used by amateur astronomers
partner used a convex lens to produce an who make their own telescope optics, or on
a method used by a project at a national
image with xi = 25 cm and hi = 4.0 cm. You
laboratory. Prepare a one-page report
are examining a concave lens with a focal
describing the method, and present it to the
length of −15 cm. You place the concave
class.
lens between the convex lens and the
original image, 10 cm from the image. To
136. Mirrors reflect light because of their metallic
your surprise, you see a real image on the
coating. Research and write a summary of
wall that is larger than the object. You are
one of the following:
told that the image from the convex lens is
now the object for the concave lens, and a. the different types of coatings used and
because it is on the opposite side of the the advantages and disadvantages of
concave lens, it is a virtual object. Use these each
hints to find the new image position and b. the precision optical polishing of
image height and to predict whether the aluminum to such a degree of
concave lens changed the orientation of smoothness that no glass is needed in
the original image. the process of making a mirror

133. Define Operationally Name and describe 137. Investigate the lens system used in an
the effect that causes the rainbow-colored optical instrument such as an overhead
fringe commonly seen at the edges of a projector or a particular camera or
spot of white light from a slide or overhead telescope. Prepare a graphics display for
projector. the class explaining how the instrument
forms images.
134. Think Critically A lens is used to project
the image of an object onto a screen. 138. The process of accommodation, whereby
Suppose that you cover the right half of the muscles surrounding the lens in the eye
lens. What will happen to the image? contract or relax to enable the eye to focus
on close or distant objects, varies for
different species. Investigate this effect for
different animals. Prepare a report for the
class showing how this fine focusing is
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accomplished for different eye

mechanisms.

Inspire Physics 11 Physics Problems