Optics
Hyperopia corrected
A converging lens (positive power) brings the reading distance within range, and the near object comes into focus.
Hyperopia corrected — interactive Optics simulation. A converging lens (positive power) brings the reading distance within range, and the near object comes into focus.
Hyperopia correction
A converging lens (positive power) brings the reading distance within range, and the near object comes into focus.
A convex corrective lens supplies the extra converging power needed for near tasks, pulling the image forward onto the retina. Reading glasses use positive power matched to the patient's near-point distance.
- Converging lens
- Near point in range
Investigation brief
Plan the question before you open the lab
The brief mirrors the prerendered page: driving question, competing predictions, variable roles, governing laws, setup, analysis and extension prompts remain visible and in this order.
Driving question
A hyperopic eye's converging corrective lens (f = 33 cm here) is meant to make a close object appear to be at the eye's (pushed-out) near point instead. As the true object gets closer to the lens's own focal length, what happens to the image distance?
Predictions to weigh
- The image distance stays roughly constant.
- It grows rapidly in magnitude — as the true object distance approaches the lens's focal length, the virtual image distance changes dramatically.
- The image distance shrinks toward zero.
Variable roles
What you set:
- True object distance d_o (cm)
What you measure:
- Corrective lens's image distance d_i (cm)
How the investigation runs
- Open the hyperopia-corrected preset and press Reset. The corrective converging lens has f = 33 cm.
- Enable the corrective lens's image-distance readout.
- Set the true (close) object distance for each trial and record the virtual image distance formed by the corrective lens.
Governing equation
How Reading-Glasses Lenses Work — dᵢ = dₒ·f/(dₒ − f)
A converging corrective lens takes a close object (within the eye's blurry near-point range) and forms a virtual image farther away — at or beyond the eye's actual near point — letting the hyperopic eye focus on that image instead.
What the printable worksheet asks students to work out
- For one trial, compute d_i from 1/f = 1/d_o + 1/d_i using f = 33 cm. Compare to the table.
- Explain why, for an object distance well under the focal length (as in all three trials here), the lens forms a distant virtual image — bringing a too-close object 'out' to where the hyperopic eye can actually focus on it.
Where this shows up beyond the lab
- Compute magnification m = −d_i/d_o for each of your trials. Explain why reading glasses with this kind of setup also enlarge the apparent size of what you're reading, as a side effect of moving its virtual image farther away.
- This lens's f = 33 cm roughly matches the corrective power needed for a near point around 100 cm (check against the hyperopia experiment's formula: P = 4 − 1 = 3 D, so f = 1/3 m ≈ 33 cm). Confirm these describe the same lens two ways.
- AP Physics 2 — Unit 13: Geometric Optics
- General High School Physics — Light & optics
- NGSS High School Physics — Wave properties
- Welcome to Hyperopia Corrected
- Select the corrective lens
- Press Play
- Converging correction
- Open the Properties panel
- You did it!
Open the interactive simulation to build the scene, press Play, and explore with live measurements and a guided tutorial.