Can an image in a diverging lens be placed onto a screen? Why or why not?
Since this is not my area of expertise, I searched Google under the key words "'diverging lens' image" to get these possible sources:
http://www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/gbssci/Phys/Class/refrn/u14l5eb.html
http://www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/gbssci/phys/Class/refrn/u14l5a.html
http://www.physics.uoguelph.ca/applets/Intro_physics/kisalev/java/dlens/index.html
http://physics.bu.edu/py106/notes/Lenses.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lens_(optics)
http://www.edumedia-sciences.com/a294_l2-diverging-lens.html
In the future, you can find the information you desire more quickly, if you use appropriate key words to do your own search. Also see http://hanlib.sou.edu/searchtools/.
I hope this helps. Thanks for asking.
Yes, an image formed by a diverging lens can be placed onto a screen, but the image will be virtual rather than real.
To understand why, let's first discuss how a diverging lens works. A diverging lens is thicker at the edges and thinner in the center. When light rays pass through a diverging lens, they spread out or diverge. This causes the rays to appear as if they are coming from a point behind the lens, creating a virtual image.
Now, to place this image onto a screen, we need to consider the path of the diverging rays. Since the image formed by a diverging lens is virtual, the rays do not actually converge to a point. Instead, they appear to diverge from a point behind the lens. Thus, when we try to direct these diverging rays onto a screen, they do not physically intersect at any point on the screen.
In other words, the virtual image created by a diverging lens cannot be projected onto a screen, as there is no actual convergence point for the rays to form a real image. Instead, the virtual image is observed by looking through the lens.