Which lens can form a real, inverted image of a distant object on a screen?

Which lens can form a real, inverted image of a distant object on a screen?

• A. Prism
• B. Concave lens
• C. Convex lens
• D. Mirror

Answer: (C)

When an object is very far away, the light rays reaching the lens are essentially parallel. A converging (convex) lens can bend those parallel rays so they meet at a point on the other side. That meeting point is a real image—the rays actually converge there—and for distant objects it appears inverted relative to the object. Placing a screen at the lens’s focal plane will capture that sharp, real, inverted image. A concave lens would spread the light and typically create a virtual, upright image instead of a real one you can project on a screen. A prism isn’t a lens and won’t form a single focused real image on a screen in this setup. A mirror could form a real image in some cases, but the question focuses on lenses, and the convex lens is the device that produces the real, inverted image from distant light.

When an object is very far away, the light rays reaching the lens are essentially parallel. A converging (convex) lens can bend those parallel rays so they meet at a point on the other side. That meeting point is a real image—the rays actually converge there—and for distant objects it appears inverted relative to the object. Placing a screen at the lens’s focal plane will capture that sharp, real, inverted image.

A concave lens would spread the light and typically create a virtual, upright image instead of a real one you can project on a screen. A prism isn’t a lens and won’t form a single focused real image on a screen in this setup. A mirror could form a real image in some cases, but the question focuses on lenses, and the convex lens is the device that produces the real, inverted image from distant light.