Mirrors

Lesson 4
(3 hours)
 Mirrors
Word bank
MIRROR
Any regular reflecting surface that can
produce an image of an object standing in
front of it
Common mirrors are made of flat glass
painted with silver on one side.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF MIRROR IMAGES
A) IMAGE SIZE
Images formed by mirrors can be enlarged,
reduced or of the same size as the object
forming the image.
Image formed by a plane mirror is of the same
size as the object
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IMAGE SIZE
The apparent reduction in the size of an image
as an object moves farther away from the mirror
can be explained by the diagram below:
object
Actual image:
same size as the
object; same
distance from the
mirror as the object
image in the mirror
as seen by the
person (There’s an
apparent reduction
in size!)
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CHARACTERISTICS OF MIRROR IMAGES
B) ORIENTATION
Images formed by mirrors can either be oriented
upright or inverted.

Image formed by a plane mirror is always

upright.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF MIRROR IMAGES
C) NATURE
Images formed by mirrors can either be real
(formed in front of the mirror) or virtual (formed
at the back of the mirror).

Word bank
VIRTUAL IMAGE
Image formed by light rays that do not converge
at the location of the image
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Word bank
SPHERICAL MIRROR
• Mirror formed from sections of a sphere
• Also called a curved mirror
• There are two types: the convex mirror
and the concave mirror
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Word bank
CONCAVE MIRROR
• Mirror that curves inward or toward its
center
• Converges parallel rays of light to a single
point called the FOCAL POINT
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Word bank
CONVEX MIRROR
• Mirror that curves outward or away from
its center
• Diverges parallel rays of light creating an
image behind the mirror
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FEATURES OF THE SPHERICAL MIRROR

Spherical mirror
R
Principal axis C F

f
C – Center of the sphere
R – Radius of curvature: Distance between C the mirror
F – Focal point: Point halfway between C and the mirror
f – Focal length: Distance between F and the mirror; Equal to ½ R
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RAY TRACING METHOD
• Method used to describe the location,
nature, size and orientation of image
formed by a spherical mirror
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FORMATION OF IMAGE USING
RAY-TRACING METHOD
This process requires tracing of any two
rays suggested below:
1) An incident ray from the tip of the
object drawn parallel to the principal axis
will pass through the focal point upon
reflection
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FORMATION OF IMAGE USING
RAY-TRACING METHOD
2) An incident ray connecting the tip of
the object and the focal point will be
reflected parallel to the principal axis

3) An incident ray connecting the tip of

the object and the center will be reflected
back along the same line
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The intersection of the reflected rays will form the tip of the image

Ray 3

object
Principal axis C F

Ray 2

Ray 1
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Ray 3

object
Principal axis C F

Ray 2
incident ray

Ray 1
reflected ray
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Ray 1
For convex mirrors, the focal point and the center are
located at the back of the mirror. You have to project
the reflected rays back (into the mirror) to locate the
intersection.
Ray 3

Ray 2
Principal axis
object F C

incident rays

reflected rays

back projections
SEATWORK
An object is placed at different positions in front of a concave
mirror. Describe the image formed at each position by
completing the table.
Location of Location Nature Orientation Size
object of image
Between the mirror
and the focal point F

At the focal point F

Between the center

C and the focal point
F
At the center C

Beyond the center C

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MIRROR EQUATION
Another way of locating the images formed by
spherical mirrors is by the use of the mirror
equation:
focal length, f: distance from the focal
1 1 1 point to the mirror
= + object distance, do: distance from the
object to the mirror
f di do image distance, di: distance from the
image to the mirror
magnification, m: the number of
hi − d i times the image is larger than the
m= = object
ho do height of object, ho
height of image, hi
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SIGN CONVENTIONS
• Focal length can be either positive or negative
• Focal length is positive for concave mirrors and negative for
convex mirrors
• Image distance can be either positive or negative
• Image distance is positive if the image is real and negative if the
image is virtual
• Object distance can only be positive
• Magnification can be either positive or negative
• Magnification is positive if the image is upright and negative if the
image is inverted
• If the magnitude of the magnification is:
– Less than 1, image is reduced
– Equal to 1, image is of the same size as the object
– Greater than 1, image is enlarged
EXAMPLE
An object is 4.00 cm from a concave
mirror with a focal length of 10.0 cm. Find
the location, size, orientation and nature of
the image formed.
Given:
do= 4.00 cm f = 10.0 cm
di= ? m=?
SOLUTION
di = (dof)/(do- f)
= (4.00 cm x 10.0 cm)/(4.00 cm-10.0
cm)
= -6.67 cm (Image is located 6.67 cm from the mirror)
m = -di/do
= -(-6.67 cm)/(4.00 cm)
= 1.67 (Image is 1.67x larger than the object)
The image is virtual (di is negative), upright (m is positive) and
EXAMPLE 2
A girl stares at a shiny Christmas ball with a
diameter of 60.0 cm. If her face is 20.0 cm from
the ball, describe the location, size, orientation
and nature of her image.
The ball is a convex mirror because the center is located inside the
ball. Therefore, f is negative. F is half the radius (which is half the
diameter).
do= 20.0 cm f = -15.0 cm
di= ? m=?
SOLUTION
di = (dof)/(do- f)
= (20.0 cm x -15.0 cm)/(20.0 cm-(-15.0 cm))
= -8.57 cm (Image is located 8.57 cm from the ball)
m = -di/do
= -(-8.57 cm)/(20.0 cm)
= 0.43 (Image size is 0.43x size of the object)
The image is virtual (di is negative), upright (m is positive) and
reduced (magnitude of m is less than 1)
HOMEWORK
1) A shaving mirror of focal length 25.0 cm is
used by your dad while he shaves 12.0 cm in
front of it. How much does the mirror magnify
your dad’s face?

2) A convex mirror of focal length 9.0 cm creates

an image whose distance is 9.0 cm. Describe
the image formed if the object’s height is 5.0
cm.