Thin Lens (converging/diverging lens/mirrors)


Here are what the various things in the picture mean
blue lines  trace of light path
green lines  backward tracing for virtual image
small red lines distances f and 2*f away from the center of lens.
1st textfield current mouse position (x , y) relative to lens
white vertical line reference line (you can click and drag it left/right)
yellow line light path for paraxial ray assumption(mirror only)
EXIT

These parameters can be changed :

  1. Select Lens to study a thin lens (this is the default)
  2. select mirror to study a concave/convex mirror
  3. press toggle button +/- to change between converging/diverging lens
  4. To move the object
    5. click near tip of the object, and drag it to where you like it and release the mouse button.
  5. To move the lens/mirror:
    6. click near center of the lens, and drag it to left or right.
    if you click with left mouse button, only the lens will move.
    if you click with right mouse button, the object will move with the lens.
  6. To change the focal length of the lens/mirror
    7. click near the top/bottom of the lens/mirror, then drag the mouse . Try it!
  7. If you adjust the size of window, the parameters reset to their default values.
  8. You can open more then one window to compare different cases (close the created window to Quit)
    Press     to open another Lens window!
  9. You can change the following parameters inside the "textfield".
     
    Parameters distance defaults
    P object 20.
    q image 20.
    f focus 10.
    m=-q/p magnification 1.

    Copyright 1996 Fu-Kwun Hwang