Unit 5: Geometric Optics
Physics 2 · Unit 5 · Paper 3

Geometric Optics unit test

A test on this unit alone, marked as a percentage and a letter grade — for the test your class is actually sitting, rather than for May. Answer everything, then submit once: seeing the answer to question 3 before attempting question 4 makes the final percentage meaningless.

Each paper is built from this unit’s 41 terms and is the same for everyone, so a teacher can assign “Unit 5, Paper 3” and every student sits the identical test. Multiple choice is marked objectively; the written sections you mark yourself against the model answer and rubric.
Suggested time 35 min 32 points0/17 attempted
1

Fiber optics and prisms

2

Index of refraction

3

Concave versus convex mirror

4

Why the image of a half-covered lens is dimmer, not halved

5

Real image on a screen

6

Three principal rays for a converging lens

7

Two forms of magnification

8

Total internal reflection

9

Wavelength in a medium

10

Real vs virtual images

11

Snell's law

12

Critical angle

Short answer 1. Define or explain: Focal length and radius of curvature

3 pts

Short answer 2. Define or explain: Convex mirror

3 pts

Short answer 3. Define or explain: Predicting image type without calculating

3 pts

Short answer 4. Define or explain: Plane mirror image

3 pts

Free response

8 pts

An object is placed a distance 3f in front of a thin converging lens of focal length f. The same object is then placed the same distance 3f in front of a second thin converging lens whose focal length is 2f.

A. Indicate whether the image formed by the second lens is larger than, smaller than, or the same size as the image formed by the first lens. Justify your answer using qualitative reasoning beyond referencing equations.

B. Starting from the thin-lens equation, derive expressions for the image distance and the magnification produced by a converging lens of focal length f when the object is at distance 3f.

C. Justify how your derived expressions in part B are or are not consistent with your comparison in part A.