A concave lens always produces which type of image?

• A. Real and inverted
• B. Real and upright
• C. Virtual and upright
• D. Virtual and inverted

Answer: (C)

Concave lenses are diverging lenses, and they always produce a virtual image that is upright. The rays leaving the lens spread apart, so they don’t actually converge to form a real image on a screen. If you extend the diverging rays backward, they appear to come from a point on the same side as the object, which gives a virtual image. Because the rays don’t cross, the image retains the same orientation as the object, though it’s typically smaller. Real images or inverted images would require rays to converge in space, which a single concave lens does not produce.