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Question:

(a) The angle subtended at the eye by an object is equal to the angle subtended at the eye by the virtual image produced by a magnifying glass. In what sense then does a magnifying glass provide angular magnification?

(b) In viewing through a magnifying glass, one usually positions one’s eyes very close to the lens. Does angular magnification change if the eye is moved back?

(c) Magnifying power of a simple microscope is inversely proportional to the focal length of the lens. What then stops us from using a convex lens of smaller and smaller focal length and achieving greater and greater magnifying power?

(d) Why must both the objective and the eyepiece of a compound microscope have short focal lengths?

(e) When viewing through a compound microscope, our eyes should be positioned not on the eyepiece but a short distance away from it for best viewing. Why? How much should be that short distance between the eye and eyepiece?

Solution:

(a)Though the image size is bigger than the object, the angular size of the image is equal to the angular size of the object. A magnifying glass helps one see the objects placed closer than the least distance of distinct vision (i.e., 25 cm). A closer object causes a larger angular size. A magnifying glass provides angular magnification. Without magnification, the object cannot be placed closer to the eye. With magnification, the object can be placed much closer to the eye.

(b) Yes, the angular magnification changes. When the distance between the eye and a magnifying glass is increased, the angular magnification decreases a little. This is because the angle subtended at the eye is slightly less than the angle subtended at the lens. Image distance does not have any effect on angular magnification.

(c) The focal length of a convex lens cannot be decreased by a greater amount. This is because making lenses having very small focal lengths is not easy. Spherical and chromatic aberrations are produced by a convex lens having a very small focal length.

(d) The angular magnification produced by the eyepiece of a compound microscope is $\left[\left(\frac{25}{f_{\mathrm{e}}}\right)+1\right]$

Where,

fe = Focal length of the eyepiece

It can be inferred that if fe is small, then angular magnification of the eyepiece will be large.

The angular magnification of the objective lens of a compound microscope is given as $\left(\left|u_{\mathrm{o}}\right| f_{\mathrm{o}}\right)$

Where,

$u_{0}=$ Object distance for the objective lens\

$f_{0}=$ Focal length of the objective

The magnification is large when $u_{\mathrm{o}}>f_{\mathrm{o}}$. In the case of a microscope, the object is kept close to the objective lens. Hence, the object distance is very little. Since $u_{\mathrm{o}}$ is small, $f_{\mathrm{o}}$ will be even smaller. Therefore, $f_{\mathrm{e}}$ and $f_{\mathrm{o}}$ are both small in the given condition.

(e)When we place our eyes too close to the eyepiece of a compound microscope, we are unable to collect much refracted light. As a result, the field of view decreases substantially. Hence, the clarity of the image gets blurred.

The best position of the eye for viewing through a compound microscope is at the eye-ring attached to the eyepiece. The precise location of the eye depends on the separation between the objective lens and the eyepiece.