TO FIND THE FOCAL LENGTH OF

CONCAVE MIRROR

A PHYSICS PROJECT

REPORT SUBMITTED

BY
ANIRUDHA.S,CLASS XII

SRIMATHI SUNDARAVALLI MEMORIAL SCHOOL

CHENNAI -600063
TABLE OF CONTENTS:

SNO CONTENTS PAGE NUMBER

1 INTRODUCTION 1
2 EXPERIMENT 3

3 APPPLICATIONS OF CONCAVE MIRROR 7

4 BIBLIOGRPHY 10
INTRODUCTION:

Concave mirrors

The mirror in which reflection takes place from the hollow inner surface and has
polished outer surface. It is used in headlights, solar furnaces, shaving mirrors, head
mirrors etc.

Terms associated with the spherical Mirrors

Pole(P): it is the centre of the spherical mirror.

Centre of curvature(C): it is the centre of sphere of which the mirrorforms a

part.

Principal axis: the line passing through the pole and the centre of
curvature of the mirror is known as principal axis.

Linear aperture: it is the diameter of the circular boundary of the sphericalmirror.

Angular aperture: it is the angle subtended by the boundary of the

spherical mirror at its centre of curvature.

Principal focus: a beam of light parallel to the principal axis either convergesto or
appears to diverge from a point F on the principal Axis afterreflection from the
spherical mirror. This point F is known as the principal focus of the mirror.

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 Focal length: the distance between the focus and the pole of the mirror isafocal
length of the mirror.

Focal plane: the vertical plane passing through the principal focus and
perpendicular to the principal axis is called focal plane.

Relationship between focal length and radius of curvature:

focal length= 1/2* radius of curvature

Mirror formula:

1/f = 1/v + 1/u

f = uv / (u+v).

f= focal length of concave mirror

u= distance of object from the mirror

v= distance of image from the mirror

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EXPERIMENT:TO FIND FOCAL LENGTH OF A CONCAVE
MIRROR

Aim:

To find the focal length of a concave mirror by using u-v method.

Material used:

concave mirror, stand, screen, illuminated wire,light source, metre scaleetc.

Procedure to find focal length:

First we have to find the focal length of a mirror by distance object method.

● Fix the concave mirror on the stand and now put the stand in front of the
screen in such a way that the image of the object should be visible on
screen.
● Adjust the mirror to get the clear image of an object.

● Measure the difference between mirror and the screen using a metre scale.
The length between screen and mirror is the focal length (f ) of the mirror.
● Now by using the focal length obtained, say the value of you that is the distance
between mirror and object ranging from 1.5f to 2.5f now ,divide the range into
a number of equal steps.

● Place the mirror in front of an light source and it will act as an object.

● Now fix the mirror at the distance you have which is equal to 1.5 f from
the wire gauze.

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● Place the screen in front of a mirror in such a way that the reflection of
the image lies on the screen.
● Now it’s just the position of the screen to get the clear image of the
light source
● Measure the distance between mirror and light source(u) and thedistance
between mirror and screen (v).
● Record the values of u and v in a tabular format.

● Now calculate the focal length of a concave mirror by using the

relation, f = -uv / (u+v).
● Repeat the experiment to obtain different values of you and in eachtime
measure we and record it in the table.
● Calculate the focal length of a mirror each time.

● Now calculate the mean of all the focal lengths to get the correct focallength of
the given concave mirror.

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OBSERVATION TABLE :

-2
ROUGH FOCAL LENGTH=16.5 x ( 10 )m

S.NO U x(10-2)m V x(10-2)m f x (10-2)m

1.
26 43 -16.2

2.
33 28 -15.1

3.
38 26 -15.4

MEAN -15.7

CALCULATIONS

f = -uv/u+v

f =-(26)(43)/43+26 = -16.2 cm

f =-(33)(28)/33+28 = -15.1 cm

f = -(38)(26)/38+26 = -15.4 cm

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RESULT:

Focal length of the concave mirror(f) = -15.4 x(10-2)m

PRECAUTIONS:

1) the mirror and the screen should be placed in line with the source of light

2) the mirror must be clean

SOURCES OF ERROR:
1) The mirror may not be clean

2) Error in capturing a sharp and well defined image on the screen

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Applications of Concave Mirror
A concave mirror, which is also called a converging mirror has its reflecting surface
bulging inwards, i.e. away from the incident light. There are numerous uses of
concave mirrors in daily life. It is used in aircraft landing to guide the aeroplane, it is
used as a torch to reflect the light rays, it is used during shaving to get an erect
and enlarged image of the face, etc.

Some concave mirror uses are listed in the points below.

● Shaving mirrors
● Head mirrors
● Ophthalmoscope
● Astronomical telescopes
● Headlights
● Solar furnaces

Concave mirrors reflect light inward to one focal light. Therefore, they aremostly
used to focus light. A concave mirror shows different image types depending on the
distance between the mirror and the object. Concave mirrors are called converging
mirrors because as light falls on the mirror, it collectsthe light and refocuses
the parallel incoming rays. Some of the most important and common
applications of the concave mirror are described below

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Used in Shaving Mirrors

Concave mirrors are most commonly used in shaving because of their reflective and
curved surface. The concave mirror forms an enlarged and erect image ofthe face
when the mirror is held closer to the face during shaving.

Concave Mirror Uses in the Ophthalmoscope

Concave mirrors are used in optical instruments such as Ophthalmoscope.

Ophthalmoscope consists of a concave mirror with a hole in the centre. The doctor
focuses through the small hole from behind the concave mirror whilea light beam is
directed into the pupil of the patient’s eye. This makes the retina visible and makes
it easy for doctors to check.

Uses of Concave Mirror in Astronomical Telescopes

Concave mirrors are also used in making astronomical telescopes. In an

astronomical telescope, a concave mirror of a diameter of 5 meters or more isused
as the objective.

Concave Mirrors Used in Headlights

Concave mirrors are widely used in automobiles and motor vehicles headlights,
torchlights, railway engines, etc. as reflectors. The light source

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is placed at the focus of the mirror, so after reflecting the light rays travel overa
huge distance as parallel light beams of high intensity.

Used in Solar Furnaces

Large concave mirrors are used to focus sunlight to produce heat in the solar furnace.
They are also used in solar ovens to collect a large amount of solar energy in the
focus of the concave mirror for heating, cooking, melting metals,etc.

These were some common uses of the concave mirror in daily life. Concave mirrors
are also used in satellite dishes, electronic microscopes, visual bomb detectors, etc.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY :

1. https://www.olabs.edu.in/?sub=74&brch=9&sim=67&cnt=1#:~:text=Fo
cal%20Length%20%2D%20The%20distance%20between,as%20sho
wn%20in%20the%20figure.

2. https://ncert.nic.in/textbook/pdf/leph201.pdf

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