What is a Mirror?

Understanding the phenomena behind a mirror and what makes it a reflecting substance is necessary to comprehend the notion of a mirror. The law of reflection, which states that when a ray of light is made to fall on a reflecting surface, the incident ray, the reflected ray, and the normal to the surface of the mirror all lie in the same plane and the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection, can be used to define a mirror as a reflecting surface.

What is a concave mirror? A concave mirror is a spherical mirror which has a reflecting surface curved inward in the middle.

Working of Concave Mirror

The reflecting surface of a concave mirror is curled inward and away from the light source. Light is reflected inward to a single focus point via concave mirrors. Contrary to convex mirrors, concave mirrors provide a variety of images based on the object’s distance from the mirror.

The point where rays leaving one place reflect at another location is known as the image of the original point. If the rays meet at the spot and seem to deviate from it when they are created backwards, the picture is genuine; otherwise, it is virtual.

We suppose that the rays are paraxial during image creation, which means that they impact at positions near the mirror’s pole P and create tiny angles with the primary axis. We take into account six different locations for the item in front of a concave mirror.

Characteristics of Concave Mirrors

• When the light hits the reflective surface of the concave mirror is reflected and returns, and it converges to one point. Therefore, it is also called a collection mirror. 
• Bringing the concave mirror very close to the object produces a magnified simulation image. 
• However, increasing the distance between the object and the mirror will reduce the size of the image and produce the actual image. 
• Concave mirrors can create small or large images, real or virtual.

Uses of Concave Mirror

• Concave mirrors are used in telescopes and microscopes.
• Concave mirrors are used in headlights and torches because the bulb of the headlamp or torch is placed at the focal point (after reflection in the mirror, a parallel beam of light is “focused” at the focal point ‘F’ of a concave mirror) of a concave mirror. Light rays appear as parallel light beams in the headlights and torches after being reflected by a concave mirror. These reflected beams have great intensity and can travel vast distances.
• Dentists used concave mirrors to get a better vision inside the mouth.
• Concave mirrors are used in solar furnaces to focus sunlight at a certain place. The huge amount of light collected by the concave mirror is focused on the focal point. Concentrated energy is used in heating, cooking, generating electricity, and melting metals.
• Shaving mirrors are made of concave mirrors.
• Searchlights, and flashlights also use concave mirrors.

Image Formation by Concave Mirror

Object’s Position	Image Positioning	Image Size	The Image’s Nature
At the limit of infinity	At The Focus F	Significantly Reduced	Inverted and Real
Beyond the curvature’s center C	Between Focus and C	Reduced	Inverted and Real
At C	At C	No change in image(same size)	Inverted and Real
Between Focus and C	Beyond The curvature’s center C	Larger than the image	Inverted and Real
At Focus	At the limit of infinity	Exceptionally Larger than image	Inverted and Real
Between Focus and Principle Axis	Behind the MIrror	Larger than image	Virtual and erect

RAY DIAGRAM OF CONCAVE MIRROR

SOME IMPORTANT TERMS

• A spherical mirror’s pole is the center of the reflecting surface.
• The center of the sphere generated by the reflecting component of a spherical mirror is referred to as the center of curvature. C is the most common abbreviation for it.
• The principal axis is a linear line that passes through the pole and the spherical mirror’s center of curvature.
• After reflection, incident rays that are parallel to the principal axis appear to converge on a common point on the primary axis, which is known as the principal focus of a concave mirror. It’s commonly symbolized with the letter F.
• The focal length of a concave mirror is the distance between the pole and the major focus. It is represented by the letter f.

SUMMARY

• The reflective surface of a concave mirror, also known as a convergent mirror, is recessed inward (away from the incident light). Light is reflected inward toward a single focal point by a curved mirror. They are used to focus the light. 

• Curved mirrors are used in searchlights, flashlights, and flashlights. Concave mirrors include torch lights and automotive headlights.

FAQs

Q. What are concave mirrors?

When a hollow spherical is divided into parts, and the exterior surface of each cut portion is painted, it forms a mirror, with the inner surface reflecting the light. A concave mirror is a name for this sort of mirror.

Q. What type of image is formed by a concave mirror?

Concave mirrors formed both types of images, real and virtual.

Q. How are concave mirrors used in everyday life?

Shaving mirrors, torchlight, and flashlight are some daily life usage of Concave mirrors.

Q. Write about the image formation by a concave Mirror.

When the concave mirror is put very close to the item, it produces a virtual and enlarged picture; however, as the distance between the object and the mirror increases, the size of the image decreases, and genuine images are produced.

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