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Welcome to our Physics lesson on Special Rays in Lenses, this is the second lesson of our suite of physics lessons covering the topic of Lenses. Equation of Lenses. Image Formation of Lenses, you can find links to the other lessons within this tutorial and access additional physics learning resources below this lesson.
Special Rays in Lenses
Like in spherical mirrors, we have to use the special rays to build up the image in lenses. However, in this case, two special rays are enough to build the image. They are:
- The ray that originates from the top of object, is incident to the lens in parallel to the principal axis and after refracting through lens, it passes through focus in converging lenses while in diverging lenses the extension passes through focus.
- The ray that originates from the top of object, passes through the middle of lens (point O) then moves away without changing direction, as is normally incident to the lens surface.
The two special rays used in lenses are shown in the figure below.

You have reached the end of Physics lesson 12.9.2 Special Rays in Lenses. There are 8 lessons in this physics tutorial covering Lenses. Equation of Lenses. Image Formation of Lenses, you can access all the lessons from this tutorial below.
More Lenses. Equation of Lenses. Image Formation of Lenses Lessons and Learning Resources
Optics Learning MaterialTutorial ID | Physics Tutorial Title | Tutorial | Video Tutorial | Revision Notes | Revision Questions |
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12.9 | Lenses. Equation of Lenses. Image Formation of Lenses | | | | |
Lesson ID | Physics Lesson Title | Lesson | Video Lesson |
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12.9.1 | What Are Lenses? Types of Lenses | | |
12.9.2 | Special Rays in Lenses | | |
12.9.3 | Image Formation in Converging Lenses | | |
12.9.4 | Image Formation in Diverging Lenses | | |
12.9.5 | Equation of Lenses | | |
12.9.6 | Magnification Produced by Lenses | | |
12.9.7 | Aberration in Lenses | | |
12.9.8 | Combined Systems of Lenses and Curved Mirrors | | |
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