Refraction of Light by a Concave Mirror
Spherical Mirrors
A spherical mirror is a mirror which has the shape of a piece cut out of a spherical surface. There are two types of spherical mirrors: concave, and convex. These are illustrated in Fig. 68. The most commonly occurring examples of concave mirrors are shaving mirrors and makeup mirrors. As is well-known, these types of mirrors magnify objects placed close to them. The most commonly occurring examples of convex mirrors are the passenger-side wing mirrors of cars. These type of mirrors have wider fields of view than equivalent flat mirrors, but objects which appear in them generally look smaller (and, therefore, farther away) than they actually are. | Figure 68: A concave (left) and a convex (right) mirror | |
CONVEX MIRROR A convex mirror is a spherical reflecting surface (or any reflecting surface fashioned into a portion of a sphere) in which its bulging side faces the source of light. Automobile enthusiasts often call it a fish eye mirror while other physics texts refer to it as a diverging mirror. The term “diverging mirror” is based on this mirror’s behavior of making rays diverge upon reflection. So when you direct a beam of light on a convex mirror, the mirror will allow the initially parallel rays that make up the beam to diverge after striking the reflective surface. Since convex mirrors have wider fields of view than other reflective surfaces, such as plane mirrors or concave mirrors, they are commonly used in automobile side mirrors. Having a fish eye on your automobile will allow you to see more of your rear. The complete description of an image formed by a convex mirror is: virtual, diminished in size, and upright. When we say upright, we mean that if you position an arrow in front of this kind of reflecting surface, then the arrowhead of the reflection will point to the same direction as that of the object (the real arrow) itself.
CONCAVE MIRROR Sometimes referred to
A spherical mirror is a mirror which has the shape of a piece cut out of a spherical surface. There are two types of spherical mirrors: concave, and convex. These are illustrated in Fig. 68. The most commonly occurring examples of concave mirrors are shaving mirrors and makeup mirrors. As is well-known, these types of mirrors magnify objects placed close to them. The most commonly occurring examples of convex mirrors are the passenger-side wing mirrors of cars. These type of mirrors have wider fields of view than equivalent flat mirrors, but objects which appear in them generally look smaller (and, therefore, farther away) than they actually are. | Figure 68: A concave (left) and a convex (right) mirror | |
CONVEX MIRROR A convex mirror is a spherical reflecting surface (or any reflecting surface fashioned into a portion of a sphere) in which its bulging side faces the source of light. Automobile enthusiasts often call it a fish eye mirror while other physics texts refer to it as a diverging mirror. The term “diverging mirror” is based on this mirror’s behavior of making rays diverge upon reflection. So when you direct a beam of light on a convex mirror, the mirror will allow the initially parallel rays that make up the beam to diverge after striking the reflective surface. Since convex mirrors have wider fields of view than other reflective surfaces, such as plane mirrors or concave mirrors, they are commonly used in automobile side mirrors. Having a fish eye on your automobile will allow you to see more of your rear. The complete description of an image formed by a convex mirror is: virtual, diminished in size, and upright. When we say upright, we mean that if you position an arrow in front of this kind of reflecting surface, then the arrowhead of the reflection will point to the same direction as that of the object (the real arrow) itself.
CONCAVE MIRROR Sometimes referred to