Light and Color

Questions for Week Three—Reflection and refraction

 

Write well-reasoned verbal answers to these questions. You should be able to find the base for your answer in the week’s readings, but the questions are not directly answered there. You have to think them out, using the facts and concepts from the reading. Calculations are not necessary, though if you find it useful, include them by all means. Make sure your prose is clear and complete. One or two paragraphs should be enough for each question.

 

(1)    Is your image in an ordinary room mirror a real image or a virtual image?
Is the image seen in an ordinary magnifier lens a real image or a virtual image?

Is the image formed by a camera lens on the film (or digital recording surface) a real image or a virtual image? Explain each situation.

(2)    The ray-tracing diagram in the reading (Figure 4-10) shows where light from the tip of an arrow ends up after passing through a thin lens, namely at an image point (A¹ in the diagram). Using this diagram as a model, locate where the light from the base and from the mid-point of the arrow end up.

(3)    What is wrong with Figure 4-7A? Explain.

(4)    Is a camera more like a slide projector or a telescope?

(5)    Would an ordinary camera work underwater, assuming one had waterproof film? What about a pinhole camera?