All AP Physics 2 Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #431 : Ap Physics 2
An object of height is placed in front of a concave mirror that has a radius of curvature of .
Determine the focal length of the mirror.
Use the mirror/lens equation:
Where:
is the object distance from the mirror, which is taken to be negative
is the image distance from the mirror
is the focal length of the mirror, which for concave mirrors is taken to be positive
is the radius of curvature of the mirror
Plug in values and solve for the focal point:
Example Question #11 : Optics
An object of height is placed in front of a concave mirror that has a radius of curvature of .
Determine the distance of the image.
Use the mirror/lens equation:
Where:
is the object distance from the mirror, which is taken to be negative
is the image distance from the mirror
is the focal length of the mirror, which for concave mirrors is taken to be positive
is the radius of curvature of the mirror
Plug in values and solve for the image distance:
Example Question #431 : Ap Physics 2
An object of height is placed in front of a concave mirror that has a radius of curvature of . Will the image be real or virtual?
Virtual
There will be no image
Cannot be determined without knowing the index of refraction
Real
Virtual
Use the relationship between focal length and radius:
Plug in values.
Based on the properties of a concave mirror, objects inside the focal length of the mirror will generate virtual images.
Example Question #22 : Optics
An object of height is placed in front of a convex mirror that has a radius of curvature of .
Determine the magnification of the image.
Use the mirror/lens equation:
Where:
is the object distance from the mirror, which is taken to be negative number
is the image distance from the mirror
is the focal length of the mirror, which for convex mirrors is taken to be negative number
is the radius of curvature of the mirror
Plug in values:
Solve for :
Use the equation for magnification and solve for magnification, :
Example Question #14 : Mirrors
An object of height is placed in front of a concave mirror that has a radius of curvature of .
Determine the size of the image.
Use the mirror/lens equation:
Where:
is the object distance from the mirror, which is taken to be negative
is the image distance from the mirror
is the focal length of the mirror, which for concave mirrors is taken to be positive
is the radius of curvature of the mirror
Plug in values:
Solve for the image distance:
Use the magnification formula:
Where
is magnification
is image height
is object height
Plug in values and solve for the image height:
Example Question #441 : Ap Physics 2
A ray of light is parallel to the principal axis and reflects from a concave mirror. The reflected ray will __________.
pass through both the focal point and the center of curvature
pass through the center of curvature
pass through the focal point
None of the other answers.
also be parallel to the principal axis
pass through the focal point
Parallel rays that reflect off a concave mirror always pass through the focal point of the mirror.
Example Question #23 : Optics
If an object is situated at a distance farther than the radius of curvature of a concave mirror, what will be true about the image formed?
The image will be real and inverted
The image will be virtual and up-right
The image will be virtual and inverted
It is impossible to determine
The image will be real and up-right
The image will be real and inverted
In this question, we're told that an object is positioned outside of the curvature radius of a concave mirror. We're asked to identify how the resulting image will appear.
One way to approach this problem is to draw a ray diagram. In such a diagram, a straight line is first drawn from the top of the object horizontally to the mirror. From there, the line is drawn to pass through the mirror's focal point.
A second line is then drawn from the top of the object and straight through the focal point to the mirror. Then, the line is drawn horizontally away from the mirror.
The point at which these two lines intersect will represent the top of the image. In the diagram shown below, we can see that the image will appear in front of the mirror. Hence, it is a real image. Furthermore, the image appears upside down, meaning that it has an inverted orientation. So all together, the image will be real and inverted, which makes this the correct answer.