# JEE Main & Advanced Physics Ray Optics Resolving Limit and Resolving Power

Resolving Limit and Resolving Power

Category : JEE Main & Advanced

(1) Microscope : In reference to a microscope, the minimum distance between two lines at which they are just distinct is called Resolving limit (RL) and it?s reciprocal is called Resolving power (RP)

$R.L.=\frac{\lambda }{2\mu \sin \theta }$ and$R.P.=\frac{2\mu \sin \theta }{\lambda }\Rightarrow$$R.P.\propto \frac{1}{\lambda }$

$\lambda =$ Wavelength of light used to illuminate the object,

$\mu =$ Refractive index of the medium between object and objective,

$\theta =$ Half angle of the cone of light from the point object, $\mu \sin \theta$= Numerical aperture.

(2) Telescope : Smallest angular separations $(d\theta )$ between two distant objects, whose images are separated in the telescope is called resolving limit. So resolving limit $d\theta =\frac{1.22\lambda }{a}$

and  resolving power $(RP)=\frac{1}{d\theta }=\frac{a}{1.22\lambda }\Rightarrow$$R.P.\propto \frac{1}{\lambda }$ where a = aperture of objective.

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