AP Physics 2 : AP Physics 2

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP Physics 2

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Example Questions

Example Question #1 : Optics

An object  tall is  from a mirror. If the image distance is  from the mirror, what is the image height?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The Magnification Equation is as follows:

The negative on the last part is very important. If you don't include it (and it's easy to forget), you will get the wrong answer.

We'll use the parts without  for our problem. We want , so we just need to multiply both sides by .

Now, we can plug in our numbers.

Therefore, the image height is

Example Question #2 : Optics

You have a concave mirror and a candle. The candle is  tall, and the image is  tall. What is the the magnification of the mirror?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The magnification equation is 

where  is the height of the image, and  is the height of the object. We can plug these given values into the equation.

The magnification is a scalar value, so it's unitless. We can verify this by examining what goes into the equation. Both heights have the same units, which cancel, so that leaves us with no units.

Example Question #2 : Optics

The image produced by a concave mirror is at , and the magnification is . What is the object distance?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The equation for magnification is

We're given the image distance and the magnification, so we'd use the second equality.

Now, we can plug in our numbers.

The negative in front of the equation is very important. If you forget it, the answer will be incorrect.

The distance from the mirror to the object is . Note that the object distance is always positive.

Example Question #2 : Optics

An object of height  object is placed  in front of a convex mirror that has a radius of curvature of . Determine the magnification of the image.

Possible Answers:

None of these

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Using the relationship:

Where:

 is the object distance from the mirror

 is the image distance from the mirror

 is the focal length of the mirror

 is the radius of curvature of the mirror

Plugging in values:

Solving for :

Using the equation for magnification:

Where:

 is magnification

Example Question #5 : Magnification

You are passing a ray of light through a thin tank of alcohol to determine properties. Assume that the light ray is not effected by the tank's exterior. You find that if a piece of white paper is put underneath the alcohol tank, there is an image on the metal. 

Assuming that the image is the size of  and is actually a picture of a tree of size . What can we say about the magnification of this alcohol solution? 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To determine magnification, we simply divide the object length from the image length. 

The negative sign is used to designate that the image is real. 

Example Question #3 : Optics

Suppose that an object is placed 15cm in front of a concave mirror that has a radius of curvature equal to 20cm. Will the resulting image be upright or inverted? Will it be a real or virtual image?

Possible Answers:

Inverted and real

Upright and virtual

Inverted and virtual

Upright and real

There is no way to determine whether the image is real, virtual, inverted, or upright based on the information given

Correct answer:

Inverted and real

Explanation:

To solve this problem, it is essential to use the mirror equation:

Where:

 is the distance the object is from the mirror

 is the distance the image is from the mirror

 is the focal length of the mirror

To calculate the focal length, we'll have to use the radius of curvature:

Plugging this value into the top equation and rearranging, we obtain:

Therefore, the image distance is:

Since the image distance calculated above is a positive value, this means that the image forms on the same side of the mirror that the reflected light traveled. Thus, the image is real.

To determine whether the image is inverted or upright, we'll need to use the magnification equation:

The magnification obtained above is a negative number. As a result, the image formed from this scenario will be inverted.

 

Example Question #1 : Mirrors

You have an object 17.0cm away from a concave mirror with a focal length of 7.40cm. What is the image distance?

Possible Answers:

There is not enough information to determine the image distance

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Because we're dealing with a mirror, appropriately we would use the Mirror Equation:

where  is the focal length,  is the object distance, and  is the image distance. Because we're trying to solve for , we need to rearrange the equation to solve for it.

Now, we can just plug in our values for  and :

Therefore, the image distance is 13.1cm.

Example Question #1 : Mirrors

An object is set near a mirror like below.

Mirror2

At which point would the image be?

Possible Answers:

C

B

E

A

D

Correct answer:

A

Explanation:

If you were to draw a line from an object to its image on a flat mirror, the line would be perpendicular to the plane of the mirror. The distance from the image to the mirror would be the same distance from the mirror to the object. Only point A fits both criteria, as all other points aren't perpendicular with the mirror, and point E isn't the same distance either.

Example Question #11 : Optics

You place a candle  away from a concave mirror with a radius of curvature of . What is the image distance?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

For this problem, we use the mirror equation, rearraged to find .

 is the image location,  is the object location, and  is the focal point which is equal to the radius of curvature. Plugging in our known values:

Therefore, the image distance is  from the mirror. Remember, for concave mirrors, the image is on the same side as the object, and has a flipped orientation.

Example Question #1 : Mirrors

An object is  from a convex mirror with a radius of . What is the image distance?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

For convex mirrors, the mirror equation is slightly different than for concave mirrors.

Note the negative sign in front of the focal point. This is because a convex mirror is the same as a concave mirror pointing in the opposite direction.

Now, we rearrange the equation to solve for .

Now, we can plug in our numbers.

Therefore, the image is at , which is on the concave side of the mirror.

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