Investigating and Concave Mirror

Chapter 7 - Form 4 : Light, Colour and Sight

Investigating and Concave Mirror
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A convex mirror is a curved mirror in which the reflective surface bulges toward the light source. Convex mirrors reflect light outwards, therefore they are not used to focus light. Such mirrors always form a virtual image, since the focus (F) and the centre of curvature (2F) are both imaginary points "inside" the mirror, which cannot be reached. Therefore images formed by these mirrors cannot be taken on screen. (As they are inside the mirror)

A collimated (parallel) beam of light diverges (spreads out) after reflection from a convex mirror, since the normal to the surface differs with each spot on the mirror.

The image is always virtual (rays haven't actually passed through the image,their extensions do), diminished (smaller), and upright . These features make convex mirrors very useful: everything appears smaller in the mirror, so they cover a wider field of view than a normal plane mirror does as the image is "compressed". has a reflecting surface that bulges inward (away from the incident light). Concave mirrors reflect light inward to one focal point, therefore they are used to focus light. Unlike convex mirrors, concave mirrors show different image types depending on the distance between the object and the mirror.

These mirrors are called "converging" because they tend to collect light that falls on them, refocusing parallel incoming rays toward a focus. This is because the light is reflected at different angles, since the normal to the surface differs with each spot on the mirror.