
Objectives:
1.
Students will be able to identfy plane, convex, and concave mirrors
2. Students will be able to distinguish between virtual and real
images
3. Students will be able to solve for the focal point of mirrors
4. Students will be able to solve for the magnifiaction of mirrors
Real life application:
Law of Reflection~ If a ray of light approaches a flat mirror, then the behavior of the light as it feflects would leave the mirror with an angle equal to that of the incident ray.
Plane Mirror~
1. The image is upright.
2. The image is the same size as you are.
3. The image is virtual.
4. There is no focal point.
5. The image is located as far behind the mirror as you are in front
of it.

Virtual
Image-the image is right side up
Real Image-
the image is up side down
Convex Mirror~
1. The image is distorted.
2. The image is virtual.
3. The mirror curves out.
4. Size of image and object is the same.
5. Negative focal point because image is virtual.
Concave
Mirror~
1. Mirror curves in.
2. Creates a real image.
3. Focal Point is in front of mirror.
4. Images are smaller unless the object is between the focal point
and the mirror, then the image is enlarged.
Formulas:
1 _ 1 = 1
f do
di
f=focal
point
do=distance
of object (cm)
di=distance
of image (cm)
magnification=
di
do
Examples:
1. A 6 cm light
bulb is placed at a distance of 37.3 cm from a concave mirror having the
focal distance of 10.8 cm. Determine image distance and magnification.
1 _ 1 = 1
1 _ 1 = 1 di
= 15.201 cm
f do
di
10.8 37.3 di
magnification=
di
15.201cm = .4075 X
do
37.3 cm
2. A 30 cm tall Christmas
tree was placed in front of a convex mirror 70 cm away. The focal
distance is -57.6 cm. Solve for the image distance and magnification.
1 _ 1 = 1
1 _ 1 = 1 di
= -31.5987 cm
f do
di
-57.6 70 di
magnification=
di
-31.5987cm = -.4514 X
do
70 cm
3. A 2 cm tall
ant was put in front of a caoncave mirror 500 cm away. the focal
distance was 27 cm. Solve for the image distance and manification.
1 _ 1 = 1
1 _ 1 = 1 di
= 28.541 cm
f do
di
27 500 di
magnification=
di
28.541cm = .05708 X
do
500cm
Photos courtesy of: The
Physics Classroom
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