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Ch 34: Geometric Optics
Chapter 34, Problem 34

A telescope is constructed from two lenses with focal lengths of 95.0 cm and 15.0 cm, the 95.0-cm lens being used as the objective. Both the object being viewed and the final are at infinity. (b) Find the height of the formed by the objective of a building 60.0 m tall, 3.00 km away.

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Step 1: Understand the problem. You are asked to find the height of the image formed by the objective lens of a telescope. The objective lens has a focal length of 95.0 cm, and you are given the height of the object (a building) and its distance from the telescope.
Step 2: Use the thin lens formula to relate the object distance (u), image distance (v), and the focal length (f) of the lens. The formula is \(\frac{1}{f} = \frac{1}{u} + \frac{1}{v}\).
Step 3: Since the object is very far away (3.00 km), you can approximate the object distance (u) as being much larger than the focal length of the lens. This allows you to simplify the thin lens formula to \(v \approx f\), where v is the image distance.
Step 4: Calculate the magnification (m) of the lens using the formula \(m = -\frac{v}{u}\). Since you approximated \(v \approx f\), and you know u (3.00 km converted to cm), you can substitute these values into the magnification formula.
Step 5: Finally, find the height of the image (h') using the magnification formula \(h' = m \times h\), where h is the height of the object (the building). Substitute the values of m and h to find h'.

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Key Concepts

Here are the essential concepts you must grasp in order to answer the question correctly.

Lens Formula

The lens formula relates the object distance (u), image distance (v), and focal length (f) of a lens, expressed as 1/f = 1/v - 1/u. This formula is essential for determining the position of the image formed by a lens, which is crucial in analyzing how telescopes magnify distant objects.
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Magnification

Magnification in optics refers to the ratio of the height of the image (h') to the height of the object (h), given by the formula M = h'/h = -v/u. Understanding magnification is vital for determining how much larger the image of an object appears through the telescope compared to its actual size.
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Similar Triangles

The concept of similar triangles is used in optics to relate the dimensions of the object and the image. When light rays diverge from an object and converge through a lens, the triangles formed by the object and its image are similar, allowing for the calculation of the image height based on the object's height and distances involved.
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