Science · 6 pages · 12 min

How a lens forms an image

A lens bends rays from one point on the scene so they meet again at one point.

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From the opening

A lens forms an image because it bends rays leaving each point on an object so those rays meet again at a matching point. The set of meeting points is the image, a map of where the light came from. The opening covers refraction bending a wavefront, where rays from a near point meet, and why the thrown picture is upside down.

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Inside

Refraction bending a wavefront
Where rays from a near point meet
Why the thrown picture is upside down
A pinhole image without bending
Where the idea stops applying
A distinction worth keeping

Sources

Snell law and focusing by a convex lens
The thin-lens relation of object and image distance

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How a lens forms an image

From the opening

Inside

Sources

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