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Curved Mirrors

The document defines curved mirrors as spherical mirrors formed by cutting part of a sphere, describes the types and properties of concave and convex mirrors, discusses how to construct accurate ray diagrams to determine image characteristics, and outlines several uses of curved mirrors including in telescopes, magnifying mirrors, car headlights, and solar concentrators.

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kaziba stephen
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417 views28 pages

Curved Mirrors

The document defines curved mirrors as spherical mirrors formed by cutting part of a sphere, describes the types and properties of concave and convex mirrors, discusses how to construct accurate ray diagrams to determine image characteristics, and outlines several uses of curved mirrors including in telescopes, magnifying mirrors, car headlights, and solar concentrators.

Uploaded by

kaziba stephen
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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REFLECTION AT CURVED MIRRORS

KAZIBA
Department of Physics
Nyenga seminary

August 7, 2021
Learning Objectives
By the end of the lesson ,learners should be able to
I Define a curved mirror
I State the types of curved mirrors
Curved mirrors
Are also called spherical mirrors
They are formed by cutting part of the sphere
Types of curved mirrors
I Concave mirror(converging mirror)
I Convex mirror(Diverging mirrors)
Terms used in defining curved mirrors
Pole :Is the centre point of the mirror

Pricipal axis :Is the line joining the pole to the center of
curvature

Radius of curvature :Is the distance between the pole and the
center of curvature of the mirror

Focal length :Is the distance between the pole and the pricipal
focus of a mirror

Aperture :Is the width (or length)of the mirror

centre of curvature :Is the centre of the sphere of which the


mirror forms a part
Principal focus of a concave mirror :Is the point on the
principal axis to which all rays parallel and close to the
principal axis converge after reflection

Principal focus of a convex mirror :Is the point on the principal


axis to which all rays parallel and close to the principal axis
diverge after reflection
Parabolic Mirror
This is the type of concave mirror that reflects all the parallel
incident beam on to a unique point F, the principal focus of
the mirror.

Uses of parabolic mirrors


I Used in telescopes
I Used as search lights.i.e In focussing sunlight against an
enemy in time of war, to light the Olympic torch, create a
solar cooker, and as car headlight
Geometrical Rules For the construction of ray
diagrams
(1) A ray parallel to the principal axis is reflected through the
principal focus
(2) A ray through the principal axis is reflected parallel to the
principal axis
(3) A ray through the centre of curvature is reflected a long
its own path
(4) A ray striking the pole is reflected so as the incident ray
and the reflected ray make the same angle with the
principal axis
Images formed by concave mirror

X-tics
I Real(on the screen)
I Inverted(upside down)
I At pricipal focus
X-tics
I Real
I Diminished(Smaller than the object)
I Inverted(Upside down)
X-tics
I Real
I Same size as the object
I Inverted(Upside down)
X-tics
I Real
I Magnified(bigger than the object)
I Inverted(Upside down)
X-tics
I Image is at infinity
X-tics
I Virtual(behind the mirror)
I Magnified(bigger than the object)
I erect(upright)
Images formed by convex mirror

X-tics
I Virtual(behind the mirror)
I Diminished(smaller than the object)
I erect(upright)
Magnification
Definition:
Magnification is defined as;
I The number of times the image is larger than the object.
I The ratio of image size to object size
Linear or transverse magnification is the ratio of one dimension
of the image to a corresponding dimension of the object .
OR
Linear magnification is the ratio of image distance to object
distance.
ImageDistance(v )
Magnification = ObjectDistance(u)
Linear magnification is the ratio of image height to object
height
Imageheight(h)
Magnification = Objectheight(H)
Construction of accurate ray diagrams on graph paper
I Step 1: On graph paper draw a central horizontal line
(which acts as the principal axis) with a perpendicular line
to act as the curved mirror.
I Step 2: Where distances are given, choose a scale for
object size and position.
I Step 3: Measure the focal length f and radius of
curvature r from the mirror and mark C and F as centre
of curvature and principal focus respectively.
I Step 4: Draw two of the principal rays to obtain the
position of the image.
I Step 5: Measure the position (distance) and the size
(height) of the image and multiply by the corresponding
scale.
Example 1
An object of height 10cm is placed at a distance of 60cm from
a concave mirror of focal length 20cm. Find by scale drawing
the;
(i) Image position.
(ii) Nature of the image formed.
(iii) Magnification of the image formed.

Solution

Axis Scale Conversion


Vertical axis 1 : 10cm 10cm = 10
10
= 1cm
60 30
Horizontal axis 1 : 10cm 60cm = 10 = 6cm 30cm = 10
= 3cm
Try out .The focal length of a concave mirror is 4cm. An
Object 1.5cm high is placed 12cm in front of the mirror.
(i) Use a ray diagram to locate the position and size of the
image on the graph paper.
(ii) Describe the features of the image formed.
(iii) Find the magnification of the image formed
Advantages of convex mirrors
I Gives an erect (upright) virtual image of the objects.
I Provides a wider field of view than other mirrors such as
plane mirror.

Disadvantages
I The image formed is diminished.
I It gives a false impression of the distance of an object
Uses of convex mirror
I Driving mirrors
Convex mirrors are used as driving mirrors because they
form only upright images and they have a wide field of
view
Uses of convex mirror
I security mirrors in supermarket
Uses of concave mirror

I Shaving mirrors
When an object is placed between the focalpoint and the
pole of the mirror,a virtual ,erect and magnified image is
formed.so it is used as magnifying mirror
Uses of concave mirror
I Telescopes
Both convex and concave mirrors ar used in reflecting
telescopes because of their larger aperture as their light
energy losses are smaller
Uses of concave mirror

I Used by dentists for magnification i.e Dentist mirror.


I Used as solar concentrators
I Used in car head lamps , torches
An experiment to measure the focal
length of a concave mirror

Procedure:
I A concave mirror is mounted in a holder
I A concave mirror is moved to and fro infront of the
screen until a sharp image of the cross-wires is obtained
on the screen.
I The distance between the screen and the mirror, r , is
measured and recorded
I The focal length,f , of the mirror is determined from
r = 2f

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