CBSE CLASS 10 PHYSICS PROBLEMS

Question
State the types of mirrors used for (i) headlights and (ii) rear view mirrors, in
motorcycles. Give reason to justify your answer in each case. (AI 2012)
Answer:
(i) Concave mirrors are used in headlights of cars to get powerful beams of light.
(ii) Convex mirrors are used as rear-view mirrors of vehicle to get a wider field of
view and and erect image of traffic behind.

Question
An object is placed between infinity and the pole of a convex mirror. Draw a ray
diagram and also state the position, the relative size and the nature of the image
formed. (AI 2011)
Answer:

Position: Image is formed between pole and principal focus of the mirror.
Relative size : Image formed is diminished.
Nature : Image formed is virtual and erect.

Question
An object 4.0 cm in size, is placed 25.0 cm in front of a concave mirror of focal length
15.0 cm.
(i) At what distance from the mirror should a screen be placed in order to obtain a
sharp image?
(ii) Find the size of the image.
(iii) Draw a ray diagram to show the formation of image in this case. (2020)
Answer:
(i) Given, h = 4 cm,
u = -25 cm (concave mirror), f = -15 cm
Using mirror formula,
Thus, the image is real and inverted.

Question
(a) A concave mirror of focal length 10 cm can produce a magnified real as well as
virtual image of an object placed in front of it. Draw ray diagrams to justify this
statement,
(b) An object is placed perpendicular to the principal axis of a convex mirror of focal
length 10 cm. The distance of the object from the pole of the mirror is 10 cm. Find
the position of the image formed. (2020)
Answer:
(a) A magnified real image is produced in a concave mirror when the object is placed
between principal focus and centre of curvature.

A magnified virtual image is produced in a concave mirror when the object is placed
between the pole and the principle focus of the mirror.

(b) Given, f = +10 cm (convex mirror) and u = -10 cm

From mirror formula,

Question
(a) A security mirror used in a big showroom has radius of curvature 5 m. If a
customer is standing at a distance of 20 m from the cash counter, find the position,
nature and size of the image formed in the security mirror.
(b) Neha visited a dentist in his clinic. She observed that the dentist was holding an
instrument fitted with a mirror. State the nature of this mirror and reason for its use in
the instrument used by dentist. (2020)
Answer:
(a) Given radius of curvature of the mirror,
R=5m
∴ Focal length, f = R/2 = 2.5 m (convex mirror) and u = -20 m

∴ v = 2.22 m
Thus, the image is formed 2.22 m behind the mirror. The image is diminished, virtual
and erect.
(b) Concave mirrors are used by dentist. Dentist use it as it is a converging mirror
and when used at close range forms a highly enlarged, virtual and erect image of the
object.

Question
(a) Define the following terms in the context of spherical mirrors:
(i) Pole
(ii) Centre of curvature
(iii) Principal axis
(iv) Principal focus
(b) Draw ray diagrams to show the principal focus of a
(i) Concave mirror (ii) Convex mirror
(c) Consider the following diagram in which M is a mirror and P is an object and Q is
its magnified image formed by the mirror.

State the type of the mirror M and one characteristic property of the image Q. (Delhi
2016)
Answer:
(a) (i) Pole : The centre of the reflecting surface of a spherical mirror is a point called
the pole. It lies in the surface of the mirror and its represented by the letter P.
(ii) Centre of curvature: The reflecting surface of a spherical mirror is a part of a
sphere which has a centre. This point is called the centre of curvature of spherical
mirror and is represented by the letter C.
(iii) Principal axis : An imaginary line passing through the pole and the centre of
curvature of a spherical mirror and normal to the mirror at its pole is called principal
axis.
(iv) Principal focus : Incident rays parallel to principal axis, after reflection either
converge to as appear to diverge from a fixed point on the principal axis known as
principal focus of the spherical mirror.

(c) The object is placed between focus and pole of the mirror and a magnified image
is formed behind the mirror.
∴ The mirror is concave and image formed is virtual and erect.

Question
An object 4 cm in height, is placed at 15 cm in front of a concave mirror of focal
length 10 cm. At what distance from the mirror should a screen be placed to obtain a
sharp image of the object. Calculate the height of the image. (Delhi 2017)
Answer:

Question
A real image 2/3rd of the size of an object is formed by a convex lens when the
object is at a distance of 12 cm from it. Find the focal length of the lens. (AI 2019)
Answer:
Given, h’ = 23h, u = -12 cm

∴ Focal length of the convex lens = 4.8 cm

question
What is meant by power of a lens? (Delhi 2015)
Answer:
Power is the degree of convergence or divergence of light rays achieved by a lens.
It is defined as the reciprocal of its focal length.
i.e., P = 1/f
Question
Analyse the following observation table showing variation of image-distance (v) with object-
distance (u) in case of a convex lens and answer the questions that follow without doing any
calculations.

(a) What is the focal length of the convex lens? Give reason to justify your answer.
(b) Write the serial number of the observation which is not correct. On what basis
have you arrived at this conclusion?
(c) Select an appropriate scale and draw a ray diagram for the observation at S. No.
2. Also find the approximate value of magnification. (AI 2017)
Answer:
(a) When an object is placed at 2F from the convex lens, then its image is formed on
the other side of the lens at the same distance from the lens. Thus from S.No. (3),
we can say that
∴ f = v2 = 402 = 20 cm
(b) In this case, S. No. (6) is incorrect as the object distance is between focus and
optical centre for such cases, the image formed is virtual and image distance is
negative.

The approximate value of magnification for object distance -60 cm and image
distance +30 cm is -1/2.

Question
Rishi went to a palmist to show his palm. The palmist used a special lens for this
purpose.
(i) State the nature of the lens and reason for its use.
(ii) Where should the palmist place/hold the lens so as to have a real and magnified
image of an object?
(iii) If the focal length of this lens is 10 cm, the lens is held at a distance of 5 cm from
the palm, use lens formula to find the position and size of the image. (2020)
Answer:
(i) The lens used here is a convex lens and it is used as a magnifying glass because
at close range, i.e., when the object is placed between optic centre and principal
focus it forms an enlarged, virtual and erect image of the object.
(ii) When this lens is placed such that the object is between the centre of curvature
and the principal focus, the palmist obtain a real and magnified image.
(iii) Given focal length, f = 10 cm and u = -5 cm According to lens formula,

Thus, the image will be formed at 10 cm on the same side of the palm and the size
of the image will be enlarged.

Question
At what distance from a concave lens of focal length 25 cm a 10 cm tall object be placed so
as to obtain its image at 20 cm from the lens. Also calculate the size of the image formed.
Draw a ray diagram to justify your answer for the above situation and label it. (Foreign 2016)
Answer:
Focal length of concave lens f = – 25 cm
Image distance, v = -20 cm
Height of the object, h = 10 cm
Now, from lens formula,

Question
The refractive indices of glass and water with respect to air are 3/2 and 4/3 respectively. If
speed of light in glass is 2 × 108 m/s, find the speed of light in water. (AI 2016)
Answer:

Question
With the help of a ray diagram state what is meant by refraction of light. State Snell’s law for
refraction of light and also express it mathematically.
The refractive index of air with respect to glass is 2/3 and the refractive index of water with
respect to air is 4/3. If the speed of light in glass is 2 × 108 m/s, find the speed of light in (a)
air, (b) water. (AI 2012)
Answer:
When travelling obliquely from one medium to another, the direction of propagation of light in
the second medium changes. This phenomenon is known as refraction of light.
The ratio of sine of angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is constant, for the
light of a given colour and for the given pair of media. This law is also known as snell’s law of
refraction.

question
The absolute refractive indices of glass and water are 1.5 and 1.33 respectively. In
which medium does light travel faster? Calculate the ratio of speeds of light in the
two media. (Delhi 2013 C)
Answer:
Given : refractive index of glass, ng = 1.5
Refractive index of water, nw = 1.33
Since, refractive index of medium,

For glass ng = cvg ……… (i)

For water nw = cvw ……… (ii)
Since velocity of light in medium is inversely proportional to its refractive index, the
light will travel faster in optically rarer medium i.e., water.
Dividing (i) by (ii),

So, the ratio of vg and vw is 1.33 : 1.5.

Human Eye and Colourful World
Question
Write about power of accommodation of human eye. Explain why the image distance in the
eye does not change when we change the distance of an object from the eye? (Delhi 2017)
Answer:
The ability of the eye lens to adjust its focal length is called power of accommodation.
The ciliary musqles modifies the curvature to some extent. The change in the curvature of
the eye lens can thus change its focal length. Thus, the focal length of the human lens
increases or decreases depending on the distance of the object value to this distance of the
image does not change. For example, when the ciliary muscles are relaxed, the lens
becomes thin and its focal length increases, thus enables us to see distant object clearly.

Question
(a) A person is suffering from both myopia and hypermetropia.
(i) What kind of lenses can correct this defect?
(ii) How are these lenses prepared?
(b) A person needs a lens of power +3 D for correcting his near vision and -3 D for
correcting his distant vision. Calculate the focal lengths of the lenses required to
correct these defects. (2020)
Answer:
(a) (i) The lens which can correct the vision of such a person suffering from both
myopia and hypermetropia is a bifocal lens.

(ii) A common type of bifocal lens contains both concave and convex lens. It is
prepared with the upper portion consisting of a concave lens facilitating distant vision
and the lower portion consisting of convex lens facilitating near vision, (b) The power
for correcting his near vision,

Question
A person may suffer from both myopia and hypermetropia defects.
(a) What is this condition called?
(b) When does it happen?
(c) Name the type of lens often required by the persons suffering from this defect.
Draw labelled diagram of such lenses. (2020)
Answer:
(a) This condition is called presbyopia.
(b) It happens due to gradual weakening of ciliary muscles and diminishing flexibility
of eye lens due to agening.
(c) It can be corrected by using bifocal lenses.

Question
Draw a ray diagram to show the refraction of light through a glass prism. Mark on it
(a) the incident ray, (b) the emergent ray and (c) the angle of deviation. (AI 2011)
Answer:

i = angle of incidence
(a) PE = incident ray
(b) FS = emergent ray
(c) ∠D = angle of deviation

Question
Draw a labelled diagram to explain the formation of a rainbow in the sky. (Foreign
2015)
Answer:
A rainbow is a natural spectrum caused by dispersion of sunlight by tiny water
droplets, present in the atmosphere.

Point A denotes dispersion and point B denotes internal reflection.

Question
What is ‘dispersion of white light’? State its cause. Draw a ray diagram to show the
dispersion of white light by a glass prism. (AI 2017)
Answer:
Splitting of white light into its seven constituent colours due to refraction is known as
dispersion of white light.
Cause of dispersion : When a beam of white light enters a prism, it gets refracted
and splits into seven constituent colours. The splitting of the light ray occurs due to
the different bending angle for each colour. Thus, each colour ray when passing
through the prism bends at different angles with respect to the incident beam, thus
giving rise to a spectrum.

Question
Why do stars appear to twinkle ? Explain. (Foreign 2015)
Answer:

Due to atmospheric refraction, position of star visible from sun, is slightly different
from its actual position. This apparent position of the star is not stationary, but keeps
on changing with change in physical condition on earths atmosphere. Since the stars
are very distant, they are approximately point-sized sources of light. As the path of
rays of light coming from the star goes on varying slightly, the apparent position of
the star fluctuates and the amount of starlight entering the eye flickers the star
sometimes appears brighter, and at some other time, fainter, which is the twinkling
effect.

Question

An object is placed at a distance of 30 cm from a converging lens of focal length

15 cm. A normal eye (near point 25 cm, far point infinity) is placed close to the
lens on the other side. (a) Can the eye see the object clearly? (b) What should be
the minimum separation between the lens and the eye so that the eye can clearly
see the object? (c) Can a diverging lens, placed in contact with the converging
lens, help in seeing the object clearly when the eye is close to the lens?

Q.. A 52-year-old near-sighted person wears eye glass of power of –5.5D for
distance viewing. His
doctor prescribes a correction of +1.5D in the near-vision section of his bi-focals this
measured
relative to the main parts of the lens
(i) What is the focal length of his distance viewing part of the lens.
(ii) What is the focal length of the near vision section of the lens.
Q. A short-sighted person cannot see clearly beyond 2 m. Calculate the power of less
required to correct his vision.

Show Answer

Q.. A person is able to see objects clearly only when these are lying at distance
between 50 cm and 300 cm from his eye.
(i) What kind of defect of vision he is suffering from ?
(ii) What kind of lenses will be required to increase his range of vision from 25 cm to
infinity? Explain briefly.

Answer: (a) For a normal eye, the near point is at 25 cm and the far point is at infinity
from the eye. The given person cannot see object clearly either closer to the eye or
far away from the eye. So, he is suffering from both myopia and hypermetropia.
(b) A bi-focal lens consisting of a concave lens and convex lens of suitable focal
lengths will be required to correct the defects and to increase his range of vision form
25 cm to infinity. In a bi-focal lens, upper portion is concave which corrects distant
vision and lower portion is convex which corrects near vision.
Electricity
Question

A student plots V-I graphs for three samples of nichrome wire with resistances R1,
R2 and R3. Choose from the following the statements that holds true for this graph.
(2020)

(a) R1 = R2 = R3
(b) R1 > R2 > R3
(c) R3 > R2 > R1
(d) R2 > R1 > R3
Answer:
(d) : The inverse of the slope of I-V graph gives the resistance of the material. Here
the slope of -Rj is highest. Thus, R2 > R1 > R3

Question
A cylindrical conductor of length ‘l’ and uniform area of cross section ‘A’ has
resistance ‘R’. The area of cross section of another conductor of same material and
same resistance but of length ‘2l’ is (2020)
(a) A2
(b) 3A2
(c) 2A
(d) 3A
Answer:

Question
A copper wire has diameter 0.5 mm and resistivity 1.6 × 10-8 Ω m. Calculate the
length of this wire to make it resistance 100 Ω. How much does the resistance
change if the diameter is doubled without changing its length? (Board Term I, 2015)
Question
A wire has a resistance of 16 Ω. It is melted and drawn into a wire of half its original
length. Calculate the resistance of the new wire. What is the percentage change in
its resistance? (Board Term I, 2013)

Question
Three resistors of 10 Ω, 15 Ω and 5 Ω are connected in parallel. Find their equivalent
resistance. (Board Term I, 2014)
Answer:
Question .
Two identical resistors are first connected in series and then in parallel. Find the ratio
of equivalent resistance in two cases. (Board Term I, 2013)
Answer:
Let resistance of each resistor be R.
For series combination,
Rs = R1 + R2
So, Rs = R + R = 2R
For parallel combination,

Question
The resistance of a resistor is reduced to half of its initial value. In doing so, if other
parameters of the circuit remain unchanged, the heating effects in the resistor will
become
(a) two times
(b) half
(c) one-fourth
(d) four times (2020)
Question
An electric bulb is connected to a 220 V generator. The current is 2.5 A. Calculate
the power of the bulb. (1/3, Board Term I, 2015)
Answer:
Here, V= 220 V,/= 2.5 A
Power of the bulb P = VI = 220 × 2.5 W = 550 W

Question
(a) How two resistors, with resistances R1 Ω and R1 Ω respectively are to be
connected to a battery of emf V volts so that the electrical power consumed is
minimum?
(b) In a house 3 bulbs of 100 watt each lighted for 5 hours daily, 2 fans of 50 watt
each used for 10 hours daily and an electric heater of 1.00 kW is used for half an
hour daily. Calculate the total energy consumed in a month of 31 days and its cost at
the rate of Rs 3.60 per kWh. (Board Term I, 2017)
Answer:
(a) Power consumed is minimum when current through the circuit is minimum, so the
two resistors are connected in series.
(b) Power of each bulb P1 = 100 watt
Total power of 3 bulbs, P1 = 3 × 100 = 300 watt
Energy consumed by bulbs in 1 day
E1 = P1 × t = 300 watt × 5 hours.
= 1500 Wh = 1.5 kWh
Power of each fan = 50 watt
Total power of 2 fans = 2 × 50 watt
P2 = 100 watt
Energy consumed by fans in 1 day
E2 = P2 × t = 100 watt × 10 hours
= 1000 watt hour = 1 kWh
Energy consumed by heater,
E3 = 1 kW × 1/2 h = 0.5 kWh
Total energy consumed in one day
E = E1 + E2 + E3 = (1.5 + 1 + 0.5) kWh = 3 kWh
Total energy consumed in a month of 31 days
= E × 31 = (3 × 31) kWh = 93 kWh
Cost of energy consumed = Rs (93 × 3.60) = Rs 334.80
Vinita and Ahmed demonstrated a circuit that operates the two
headlights and the two sidelights of a car, in their school exhibition.
Based on their demonstrated circuit, answer the following questions.

(i) State what happens when switch A is connected to

(a) Position 2

(b) Position 3

(ii) Find the potential difference across each lamp when lit.

(iii) Calculate the current

(a) in each 12 Ω lamp when lit.

(b) In each 4 Ω lamp when lit.

OR

(iv) Show, with calculations, which type of lamp, 4.0 Ω or 12 Ω, has the
higher power.
Question

B1,B2 and B3 are three identical bulbs connected as shown in Figure 12.8. When
all the three bulbs glow, a current of 3A is recorded by the ammeter A.
What happens to the reading of A1,A2,A3 and A when the bulb B2 gets fused?
Magnetic Effects of Electric Current
Question
Design an activity to demonstrate that a bar magnet has a magnetic field around it.
(Board Term I, 2017)
Answer:
One can easily demonstrate the presence of field lines around a bar magnet using
compass needles. Place the magnet on a white sheet and mark its boundaries on
sheet. Place the compass near the north pole of magnet and mark the position of
needle. Now move the compass such that its south pole occupies the position
previously occupied by its north pole. Repeat this step several times and you will
have pattern as shown in the figure.

Repeat the above procedure and draw as many lines as you can. These lines
represent the magnetic field around the magnet. These are known as magnetic field
lines.

Question
State three factors on which the strength of magnetic field produced by a current
carrying solenoid depends.
Answer:
(a) Strength of magnetic field produced by a current carrying solenoid depends upon
the following factors:

• number of turns in the coil

• amount of current flowing through it
• radius of coil
• Material of core of the solenoid.

Question
State the direction of magnetic field in the following case.

Answer:
Using Fleming’s left hand rule, the direction of magnetic field is out of the plane of
paper.