David Zhao

5th Period
Finding the Focal Length of a Lens
Intro:
The purpose of this lab is to find the focal length of the lens, which is
the point in space where parallel light rays meet after passing through the
lens, by taking measurements of the object distance and image distance and
using the equation of optics to calculate the focal length. In this case, the
lens that we have to find the focal length for is a standard magnifying lens,
and the object used will be a lit candle. By measuring the aspects of the
system, we can determine the theoretical focal length of the lens, and
compare it to its actual value and calculate a percent error.
Materials:

Magnifying lens
Candle
Match
Two meter sticks
Sheet of white paper
Tape

Procedure:
1. On the lab table, place two meter sticks perpendicular to the wall so that
they are end to end, and then use the tape to put the sheet of white
paper on the wall where there projected image will be.
2. Place the candle relatively far away from the wall, but still within the limits
of the two meter sticks.
3. Light the candle using the match, and turn off the lights in the room.
4. Place the magnifying lens somewhere between the wall and the candle,
making sure that the lens is perfectly parallel to the wall.
5. Adjust the position of the lens until there is a perfectly, pin-sharp image of
the candle on the paper.
6. Record the distance from the image (the wall) to the magnifying lens, and
the distance from the magnifying lens to the candle using the two meter
sticks. Move the object in small increments of 2.5 cm, continuously
recording both image and object distance.

David Zhao
5th Period
7. Construct a graph using the optics equation and the linear equation,
1
1
1
y
x
substituting d o for
, d i for
, and f for b , to get the
made, calculate for the slope of the graph, and with that, calculate the
focal point of
lens now that all other aspects of the
1 the1magnifying
1
=m +
equation are
d o known.
d i f , and once the graph is

Data:
di

do

1
di

1
do

38.75 cm
39.5 cm
40 cm
41 cm
41.75 cm
42.5 cm
43 cm
44 cm
45 cm
46.5 cm
47.5 cm
49.75 cm
52 cm
56.5 cm

121.25 cm
115.5 cm
110 cm
104 cm
100.75 cm
95 cm
92 cm
88.5 cm
85 cm
81 cm
77.5 cm
72.75 cm
68 cm
61 cm

0.0258
0.0253
0.025
0.0244
0.02395
0.0235
0.023256
0.0227
0.0222
0.0215
0.02105
0.0201
0.0192
0.0177

0.00825
0.00866
0.00909
0.009615
0.009926
0.0105
0.01087
0.0113
0.01176
0.0123
0.0129
0.0137
0.0147
0.0164

David Zhao
5th Period

Inverse Image Distance vs Inverse Object Distance

0.02
0.02
0.01
0.01
0.01
1/o

0.01
0.01
0
0
0
0.02

0.02

0.02

0.02

0.02

0.02

0.02

0.02

0.03

0.03

0.03

1/

Though we have both measurements for image distance as well as

object distance, we still need to find the focal length based on these
1
1 1
=m +
measurements. By graphing the equation d o
d i f , in the graph above,
there is a clear relationship between image distance and object distance. All
that is left to find is the slope of the line of best fit, drawn in the graph

David Zhao
5th Period
above. By taking two points that lie along the line of best fit, we can
calculate the slope:

y 2 y 1 0.008250.0164
=
=1.006=m . Now that the slope
x2 x1 0.02580.0177

of the line is known, we can plug it into the original equation and we get
1
1 1
=1.006 +
do
d i f . To find the focal length is easy now, just pick any pair of

1 1
,
di do

on the line of best fit, plug them into the equation, and solve for

f . Ultimately, we get that the focal length

is around

29.34

centimeters.
Analysis:
Though finding the focal length would be easy if we could just calculate
the focal point using the optics equations, we instead would find the focal
point by making a graph with our data, finding a line of best fit, and then
solving for the slope and the b in the linear equation y=mx +b , which
was

1
1 1
=1.006 +
do
d i f . Measuring the image distances and object distances

yielded the data in the data table, and from there the inverses of each were
calculate in the two right columns. The unique thing about this lab was that
the slope did not mean much; instead it was the constant b , which
represented

1
f , that was of the most importance. Graphing the inverse of

the image distances to the inverse of the object distances would then enable
us to find the slope used in the equation, and from there solve for the focal
length, which turned out to be 29.34 centimeters. Experimental error could
not be calculated, as the actual focal length of the lens was not given.
Conclusion:
This lab required the use of the optics equation and some clever
manipulation of it in order to produce the results that we recorded. Analyzing
the graph resulted in a calculation of the focal length to be 29.34
centimeters, but of course sources of error have to be taken into

David Zhao
5th Period
consideration when considering this result. Possible sources of error maybe
have occurred due to the fine tuning of the image projected onto the wall; it
was very difficult to get the image to pin-point sharp quality, which may have
affected our measurements. Furthermore, the measuring of the image and
object distances might not have been measured from the same place. For
instance, the measurement from the wall to the lens might could be
inaccurate due to the thickness of the lens, and the uncertainty in knowing
where along the thickness of the lens to set the measurement. Since this lab
was conducted over two days, the magnifying lens we used the first day
could have been different from the one we used on the second day, further
contributing to error. Thus, the two most crucial elements in this lab were
prone to human error. If there was a standard of comparison, such as the
actual focal point of the lens, we might know how accurate
our measurements and calculations were, but generally this lab was a
success, with consistent results and a very high correlation coefficient.