Ray Optics — JEE Main PYQs & Practice Questions

Ray Optics is a Physics chapter in the JEE Main syllabus. This page brings together 205 previous-year and practice questions on Ray Optics, organised into 7 topics: Reflection and Mirrors, Refraction and Snell's Law, Total Internal Reflection, Refraction at Spherical Surface, Lenses, Prism and Dispersion and Optical Instruments. Most questions come with a step-by-step solution you can work through free in PrepWiser.

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Reflection and Mirrors

• The incident ray, reflected ray and the outward drawn normal are denoted by the unit…
• Two plane mirrors M₁ and M₂ are at right angle to each other shown. A point source 'P'…
• If the distance between object and its two times magnified virtual image produced by a…
• Two objects A and B are placed at 15 cm and 25 cm from the pole in front of a concave…
• An object 'O' is placed at a distance of 100 cm in front of a concave mirror of radius…
• A short straight object of height 100 cm lies before the central axis of a spherical…
• Two identical objects are placed in front of convex mirror and concave mirror having…
• Distance between object and its image (magnified by -1/3 ) is 30 cm . The focal length…
• When one light ray is reflected from a plane mirror with 30° angle of reflection, the…
• An object is placed at a distance of 12 cm in front of a plane mirror. The virtual and…
• The focal length f is related to the radius of curvature r of the spherical convex…
• For a concave mirror of focal length 10 cm, an object placed at 20 cm gives an image at:
• An object is placed beyond the centre of curvature C of the given concave mirror. If the…
• A point source of light S, placed at a distance 60cm in front of the centre of a plane…
• The image formed by a plane mirror is:
• A light ray is incident, at an incident angle θ₁, on the system of tow plane mirrors M₁…
• A spherical mirror is obtained as shown in the figure from a hollow glass sphere. If an…
• A rod of length 10 cm lies along the principle axis of a concave mirror of focal length…
• Distance between an object and three times magnified real image is 40 cm . The focal…
• When an object is placed 40 cm away from a spherical mirror an image of magnification…

Refraction and Snell's Law

• A ray of light is incident from air on a glass plate having thickness √3 cm and…
• Light ray incident along a vector AO⃗(AO⃗=2î-3ĵ) emerges out along vector OB⃗(OB⃗=Cî-4ĵ)…
• Light goes from vacuum to a medium with refractive index 1.5. If incidence angle is such…
• A container contains a liquid with refractive index of 1.2 up to a height of 60 cm and…
• If a wave gets refracted into a denser medium, then which of the following is true?
• A monochromatic light wave with wavelength λ₁ and frequency v₁ in air enters another…
• A ray of laser of a wavelength 630 nm is incident at an angle of 30° at the diamond-air…
• Light enters from air into a given medium at an angle of 45° with interface of the…
• As shown in the figure, a plane mirror is fixed at a height of 50 cm from the bottom of…
• A ray of light is incident at an angle of incidence 60° on the glass slab of refractive…
• A pole is vertically submerged in swimming pool, such that it gives a length of shadow…
• The difference in the number of waves when yellow light propagates through air and…
• An observer can see through a small hole on the side of a jar (radius 15 cm) at a point…
• The difference of speed of light in the two media A and B (v A - v B ) is 2.6 × 10⁷ m/s…
• Given below are two statements: one is labelled as Assertion (A) and the other is…
• A monochromatic light of frequency 5 × 10¹⁴ Hz travelling through air, is incident on a…
• As shown in the figure, after passing through the medium 1 . The speed of light v₂ in…
• What is the lateral shift of a ray refracted through a parallel-sided glass slab of…
• An ice cube has a bubble inside. When viewed from one side the apparent distance of the…
• Two light beams fall on a transparent material block at point 1 and 2 with angle θ₁ and…

Total Internal Reflection

• Light travels in two media M₁ and M₂ with speeds 1.5 × 10⁸ ms⁻¹ and 2.0 × 10⁸ ms⁻¹…
• The speed of light in media 'A' and 'B' are 2.0 × 10¹⁰ cm/s and 1.5 × 10¹⁰ cm/s…
• One side of an equilateral prism is painted by a transparent material of refractive…
• Critical angle of incidence for a pair of optical media is 45°. The refractive indices…
• There is a small source of light at some depth below the surface of water (refractive…
• The critical angle for a denser-rarer interface is 45°. The speed of light in rarer…
• A transparent block A having refractive index μ = 1.25 is surrounded by another medium…
• A ray of light passes from a denser medium to a rarer medium at an angle of incidence i…
• A small bulb is placed at the bottom of a tank containing water to a depth of √7 m. The…
• Consider light travelling from a medium A to medium B separated by a plane interface. If…
• The X-Y plane be taken as the boundary between two transparent media M₁ and M₂. M₁ in Z…
• Optical fibers transmit light by total internal reflection.
• A light wave travelling linearly in a medium of dielectric constant 4, incidents on the…
• A ray of light entering from air into a denser medium of refractive index 4/3, as shown…
• The critical angle for a medium of refractive index n (with respect to vacuum) is:
• The critical angle of a medium for a specific wavelength, if the medium has relative…
• A hemispherical vessel is completely filled with a liquid of refractive index μ. A small…

Refraction at Spherical Surface

• A parallel beam of light is allowed to fall on a transparent spherical globe of diameter…
• Two transparent media having refractive indices 1.0 and 1.5 are separated by a spherical…
• Region I and II are separated by a spherical surface of radius 25 cm. An object is kept…
• Light from a point source in air falls on a convex curved surface of radius 20 cm and…
• Light from a point source in air falls on a spherical glass surface (refractive index…
• In a long glass tube, mixture of two liquids A and B with refractive indices 1.3 and 1.4…
• A concave-convex lens of refractive index 1.5 and the radii of curvature of its surfaces…
• A spherical surface of radius of curvature R, separates air from glass (refractive index…
• A light ray enters a solid glass sphere of refractive index μ = √3 at an angle of…
• A spherical surface separates two media of refractive indices 1 and 1.5 as shown in…
• Two concave refracting surfaces of equal radii of curvature and refractive index 1.5…
• The image of an object placed in air formed by a convex refracting surface is at a…

Lenses

• Given a thin convex lens (refractive index μ₂ ), kept in a liquid (refractive index μ₁…
• Two thin convex lenses of focal lengths 30 cm and 10 cm are placed coaxially, 10 cm…
• Two convex lenses of focal length 20 cm each are placed coaxially with a separation of…
• A convex lens has power 5 D. Its focal length in cm is:
• A spherical interface lens of radius R separates two media of refractive indices 1 and…
• For an object placed at a distance 2.4 m from a lens, a sharp focused image is observed…
• A point object in air is in front of the curved surface of a plano-convex lens. The…
• A biconvex lens is formed by using two thin planoconvex lenses, as shown in the figure…
• A point like object is placed at a distance of 1 m in front of a convex lens of focal…
• When a beam of white light is allowed to pass through convex lens parallel to principal…
• A double convex lens has power P and same radii of curvature R of both the surfaces. The…
• An object is placed on the principal axis of convex lens of focal length 10cm as shown…
• An object AB is placed 15 cm on the left of a convex lens P of focal length 10 cm…
• The distance between an object and a screen is 100 cm. A lens can produce real image of…
• As shown in the figure, a combination of a thin plano concave lens and a thin plano…
• The magnitudes of power of a biconvex lens (refractive index 1.5) and that of a…
• A slanted object A B is placed on one side of convex lens as shown in the diagram. The…
• A convex lens made of glass (refractive index = 1.5) has focal length 24 cm in air. When…
• A collimated beam of light of diameter 2 mm is propagating along x-axis. The beam is…
• A biconvex lens of refractive index 1.5 has a focal length of 20 cm in air. Its focal…

Prism and Dispersion

• The expected graphical representation of the variation of angle of deviation 'δ' with…
• For a thin symmetric prism made of glass (refractive index 1.5), the ratio of incident…
• The refractive index of the material of a glass prism is √3. The angle of minimum…
• Three rays of light, namely red (R), green (G) and blue (B) are incident on the face PQ…
• Consider following statements for refraction of light through prism, when angle of…
• A thin prism of angle 6° and refractive index for yellow light (n_Y) 1.5 is combined…
• A thin prism P₁ with angle 4° made of glass having refractive index 1.54 , is combined…
• Which of the following statement is correct?
• The refractive index of a transparent liquid filled in an equilateral hollow prism is…
• A prism of refractive index μ and angle of prism A is placed in the position of minimum…
• Consider an equilateral prism (refractive index √2 ). A ray of light is incident on its…
• The refractive index of an equilateral prism is √2. The angle of emergence under minimum…
• A ray of light passing through a prism (μ = √3) suffers minimum deviation. It is found…
• The exit surface of a prism with refractive index n is coated with a material having…
• The angle of deviation through a prism is minimum when (A) Incident ray and emergent ray…
• Given below are two statements : Statement I : When the white light passed through a…
• A prism of angle A = 1ᵒ has a refractive index μ = 1.5. A good estimate for the minimum…
• For a transparent prism, if the angle of minimum deviation is equal to its refracting…
• If the refractive index of the material of a prism is cot (A/2), where A is the angle of…
• A prism of refractive index n₁ and another prism of refractive index n₂ are stuck…

Optical Instruments

• An object viewed from a near point distance of 25 cm, using a microscopic lens with…
• A photograph of a landscape is captured by a drone camera at a height of 18 km . The…
• A compound microscope is designed with two symmetric biconvex lenses. The objective lens…
• Your friend is having eye sight problem. She is not able to see clearly a distant…
• If we need a magnification of 375 from a compound microscope of tube length 150 mm and…
• A person has been using spectacles of power -1.0 dioptre for distant vision and a…
• In a microscope the objective is having focal length fₒ=2 cm and eye-piece is having…
• A compound microscope consists of an objective lens of focal length 1 cm and an eyepiece…
• The magnifying power of a telescope with tube 60 cm is 5. What is the focal length of…
• In a reflecting telescope, a secondary mirror is used to:
• In normal adujstment, for a refracting telescope, the distance between objective and eye…
• In a microscope of tube length 10 cm two convex lenses are arranged with focal length of…
• In a compound microscope, the magnified virtual image is formed at a distance of 25 cm…

More Physics chapters

• Basic Mathematics for Physics
• Units, Dimensions & Errors
• Rectilinear Motion
• Vectors
• Projectile Motion & Relative Motion
• Newton's Laws of Motion
• Friction
• Circular Motion
• Work, Energy & Power
• Centre of Mass & Linear Momentum
• Collision
• Rotational Motion
• Gravitation
• Simple Harmonic Motion
• Elasticity
• Fluid Mechanics
• Surface Tension
• Thermometry & Calorimetry
• Kinetic Theory of Gases
• Thermodynamics
• Heat Transfer
• Mechanical Waves
• Sound Waves
• Experimental Skills
• Electrostatics I — Charges, Field & Gauss's Law
• Electrostatics II — Potential & Capacitance
• Current Electricity
• Moving Charges & Magnetism
• Magnetism & Matter
• Electromagnetic Induction
• Alternating Current
• Electromagnetic Waves
• Wave Optics
• Dual Nature of Radiation & Matter
• Atomic Physics
• Nuclear Physics
• Semiconductors & Electronic Devices
• Communication Systems

Frequently asked questions

How many Ray Optics questions are there for JEE Main?

PrepWiser has 205 Ray Optics questions for JEE Main, grouped into 7 topics such as Reflection and Mirrors, Refraction and Snell's Law and Total Internal Reflection.

Are these Ray Optics questions from previous-year JEE Main papers?

Yes — most are genuine previous-year questions from past JEE Main papers, and the rest are practice questions written to match the JEE Main pattern and difficulty.

Where can I see the answers and solutions to these Ray Optics questions?

Open any Ray Optics question in PrepWiser (it is free) to attempt it; most come with a step-by-step solution.