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Q:
What happens to a beam of parallel ligh that passes through a convex lens, and what happens to a beam of parallel ligh that passes through a concave lens?
- Cloe (age 14)
Peter Moyes Anglican Community School, Australia
A:
Hi Cloe,
Light rays change direction when they pass through the boundary
between one material and another, if the indexes of refraction (related
to the speed of light in the material) are different in the two
materials. Here is
very nice description of how parallel light rays interact with convex and concave lenses on our web site.
Tom
(published on 10/22/2007)
Follow-up on this answer.
