Images Formed by converging mirros

[jeahomgrajan]

Homework Statement

I need help with this general question. Why is it impossible to focus a virtual image on a screen, ( object is placed between F and lens).

Homework Equations

this experiment we had a candle on one side, a converging lens in the middle, and at the other end a screen to tell us where the image was formed and how far away from the lens.

The Attempt at a Solution

Well, this forms a virtual image right, but how can i measure were the image would be on the screen (paper), is it possible?

 

[PaintballerCA]

Read up and see if this helps.
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/geoopt/lenseq.html

 

[jeahomgrajan]

Well it kinda helps thanks, but my main question is basically can i put a virtual image on a screen ( the image being a candle flame)

 

[PaintballerCA]

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/geoopt/image2.html#c1
"Although a virtual image does not form a visible projection on a screen, it is no sense "imaginary", i.e., it has a definite position and size and can be "seen" or imaged by the eye, camera, or other optical instrument."

 

[mikelepore]

This is how I remember the difference between real and virtual images. Since the retina of your eye is a kind of screen, you can imagine yourself, the looker, being a screen. Light enters the eye and you see an object. Where is that object really located? The rays that enter the eye came from a particular direction. Extrapolate those lines back to a point. That point is where it appears to you that the object is located. But did the light really originate from that point, did the light really pass through that point in space? If it did, we call it a real image. If the light never really came from there, it's a virtual image. That's why the image of my face in a flat mirror is a virtual image - because if I take the rays that enter my eye and extrapolate them back, it looks as though the light originated from that imaginary guy who seems to be inside the wall - but i know the light never really passed through that point deep inside the wall. The rule is the same for a curved mirror or for a lens. The question is always: did the light really leave the location where it seems to be coming from? Yes: real image. No: virtual image.

 

[jeahomgrajan]

Alright thanks guys, helped a lot

 

[jeahomgrajan]

the hyper physics site is amazing