25 Activity Mirrors

_________________________________________________________ had come from behind the mirror, where the person’s image
appears to be located.
HOW
HOWARE
AREIMAGES
IMAGESREFLECTED
REFLECTEDAND
AND
REFRACTED BY MIRRORS AND LENSES? If you stand in front of a plane mirror and raise your right
REFRACTED BY MIRRORS AND LENSES?
hand, mirror image will raise its left hand because an image in
Reflections on Plane Mirrors front of a plane mirror is said to show right-left reversal relative
to the object. However, the object and image where thumbs are
Mirrors are smooth reflecting surface, usually made up of both at the bottom. The image formed by a plane mirror is
polished metal or glass that has been coated with some metallic laterally inverted where the image is the right way up but the
substance. Mirrors can be flat or curved. A mirror with a flat right hand becomes the left hand.
surface is called a plane mirror.
The letters of the word AMBULANCE are printed
When you look directly into a plane mirror, you will see backwards and are reversed in sequence so that they appear in
the reflected images of yourself and objects around you. You the proper orientation and order when seen in a review mirror
can verify this in front of a bathroom mirror. If you turn off the (Figure 3).
light in the bathroom to make the room completely dark, the
image will disappear. The image will only appear when the light
is turned back on.
The image you see that is
upright and appears to be
behind the mirror is known as a
virtual image. Figure 1 shows
how plane mirror forms the
virtual image of a person. Light
rays reflected from the person
travel out in all directions. They
strike the mirror and are
reflected toward the eye. The
reflected rays are in the same
line with an apparent path that
leads to the image. So, even Figure 3
Figure 2
though the rays are reflected, the brain treatsFigure
them 1 as if they
Reflection on Curved Mirrors
When you look into a shiny metal spoon, you will see
your face in it. However, the front and the back of the spoon
show different images.
The front and the back of the spoon work like two curved
mirrors. The front is a concave mirror and the back is the convex
mirror.
Curved mirrors are usually spherical mirrors. The
reflecting surface of a spherical mirror is part of a large sphere.
A concave mirror curves inward like a cave. A convex mirror Figure 5
curves outward.
Concave mirrors can form either virtual or real images. Self-Check
Real images are those created when light rays convergence or
meet at a point.
A curved mirror is a mirror with a curved reflecting 1. Describe the image produced by plane mirror, a concave mirror
surface. and a convex mirror.
2. Compare and Contrast the image formed in plane mirror and
Convex Concave curved mirror.
Law of Reflection
3. What do you call to the image formed by a plane mirror
Light is known to behave in a very predictable manner. If
appears to be the same distance away from the mirror as the
a ray of light
object could be observed approaching and reflecting off of
itself?
a4.flat mirror,
What then theapplication
the real-life behavior of the light
of plane and as it reflects
curved would
mirrors.
follow a predictable law known as the law of reflection. The
diagram below illustrates the law of reflection.
Figure 4
angle between the incident ray and the normal is known as
the angle of incidence. The angle between the reflected ray and
the normal is known as the angle of reflection. (These two
angles are labeled with the Greek letter "theta" accompanied by a
subscript; read as "theta-i" for angle of incidence and "theta-r"
for angle of reflection.) The law of reflection states that when a
ray of light reflects off a surface, the angle of incidence is equal
to the angle of reflection.
In the diagram, the ray of light approaching the mirror is

known as the incident ray). The ray of light that leaves the
mirror is known as the reflected ray. At the point of incidence
where the ray strikes the mirror, a line can be drawn
perpendicular to the surface of the mirror. This line is known as
a normal line. The normal line divides the angle between the
incident ray and the reflected ray into two equal angles. The Images Formed by a Concave Mirror
The type of image formed by a concave mirror depends
on the position of the object in relation to the focal point. The
images formed can found by drawing ray diagram using the
following construction rules for concave mirrors.
1. Draw a horizontal line to represent the principal axis
and a short vertical line with curved ends to represent
the mirror.
2. Mark the positions of F and C on the principal axis.
3. Draw the object, for example, an arrow, standing
upright at the given position. The distance between the
object and the mirror is called the object distance.
4. Draw rays with arrows to indicate direction from the
tip of the object using the following: L – Location
a. A ray parallel to the principal axis is reflected through O – Orientation (Upright or Inverted)
the principal focus.
S – Size (same, larger or smaller)
b. A ray passing through the principal focus is reflected
T – Type (Virtual or Real)
parallel to the principal axis.
c. A ray passing through the center of curvature is
reflected back along its own path.
5. Draw the image of the arrow with its tail in the
principal axis. The distance between the image and the
mirror is called the image distance.
Object’s Position ( at _____)

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_________________________________________________________ had come from behind the mirror, where the person’s image

In the diagram, the ray of light approaching the mirror is

Object’s Position ( at _____)

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