<< Chapter < Page Chapter >> Page >

Although a spherical mirror is shown in part (b) of [link] , comatic aberration occurs also for parabolic mirrors—it does not result from a breakdown in the small-angle approximation. Spherical aberration, however, occurs only for spherical mirrors and is a result of a breakdown in the small-angle approximation. We will discuss both coma    and spherical aberration later in this chapter, in connection with telescopes.

Summary

  • Spherical mirrors may be concave (converging) or convex (diverging).
  • The focal length of a spherical mirror is one-half of its radius of curvature: f = R / 2 .
  • The mirror equation and ray tracing allow you to give a complete description of an image formed by a spherical mirror.
  • Spherical aberration occurs for spherical mirrors but not parabolic mirrors; comatic aberration occurs for both types of mirrors.

Conceptual questions

At what distance is an image always located: at d o , d i , or f ?

Got questions? Get instant answers now!

Under what circumstances will an image be located at the focal point of a spherical lens or mirror?

when the object is at infinity; see the mirror equation

Got questions? Get instant answers now!

What is meant by a negative magnification? What is meant by a magnification whose absolute value is less than one?

Got questions? Get instant answers now!

Can an image be larger than the object even though its magnification is negative? Explain.

Yes, negative magnification simply means that the image is upside down; this does not prevent the image from being larger than the object. For instance, for a concave mirror, if distance to the object is larger than one focal distance but smaller than two focal distances the image will be inverted and magnified.

Got questions? Get instant answers now!

Problems

The following figure shows a light bulb between two spherical mirrors. One mirror produces a beam of light with parallel rays; the other keeps light from escaping without being put into the beam. Where is the filament of the light in relation to the focal point or radius of curvature of each mirror?

A light bulb is shown in the centre, with a small concave mirror to its left and a bigger one to its right. The light rays originating from the bulb that hit the smaller mirror are reflected back to the bulb. Light rays from the bulb that hit the bigger mirror are reflected. These reflected rays are parallel and travel towards the left.

It is in the focal point of the big mirror and at the center of curvature of the small mirror.

Got questions? Get instant answers now!

Why are diverging mirrors often used for rearview mirrors in vehicles? What is the main disadvantage of using such a mirror compared with a flat one?

Got questions? Get instant answers now!

Some telephoto cameras use a mirror rather than a lens. What radius of curvature mirror is needed to replace a 800 mm-focal length telephoto lens?

f = R 2 R = + 1.60 m

Got questions? Get instant answers now!

Calculate the focal length of a mirror formed by the shiny back of a spoon that has a 3.00 cm radius of curvature.

Got questions? Get instant answers now!

Electric room heaters use a concave mirror to reflect infrared (IR) radiation from hot coils. Note that IR radiation follows the same law of reflection as visible light. Given that the mirror has a radius of curvature of 50.0 cm and produces an image of the coils 3.00 m away from the mirror, where are the coils?

d o = 27.3 cm

Got questions? Get instant answers now!

Find the magnification of the heater element in the previous problem. Note that its large magnitude helps spread out the reflected energy.

Got questions? Get instant answers now!

What is the focal length of a makeup mirror that produces a magnification of 1.50 when a person’s face is 12.0 cm away? Explicitly show how you follow the steps in the [link] .

Step 1: Image formation by a mirror is involved.
Step 2: Draw the problem set up when possible.
Step 3: Use thin-lens equations to solve this problem.
Step 4: Find f.
Step 5: Given: m = 1.50 , d o = 0.120 m .
Step 6: No ray tracing is needed.
Step 7: Using m = d i d o , d i = −0.180 m . Then, f = 0.360 m .
Step 8: The image is virtual because the image distance is negative. The focal length is positive, so the mirror is concave.

Got questions? Get instant answers now!

A shopper standing 3.00 m from a convex security mirror sees his image with a magnification of 0.250. (a) Where is his image? (b) What is the focal length of the mirror? (c) What is its radius of curvature?

Got questions? Get instant answers now!

An object 1.50 cm high is held 3.00 cm from a person’s cornea, and its reflected image is measured to be 0.167 cm high. (a) What is the magnification? (b) Where is the image? (c) Find the radius of curvature of the convex mirror formed by the cornea. (Note that this technique is used by optometrists to measure the curvature of the cornea for contact lens fitting. The instrument used is called a keratometer, or curve measurer.)

a. for a convex mirror d i < 0 m > 0 . m = + 0.111 ; b. d i = −0.334 cm (behind the cornea);
c. f = −0.376 cm, so that R = −0.752 cm

Got questions? Get instant answers now!

Ray tracing for a flat mirror shows that the image is located a distance behind the mirror equal to the distance of the object from the mirror. This is stated as d i = d o , since this is a negative image distance (it is a virtual image). What is the focal length of a flat mirror?

Got questions? Get instant answers now!

Show that, for a flat mirror, h i = h o , given that the image is the same distance behind the mirror as the distance of the object from the mirror.

m = h i h o = d i d o = d o d o = d o d o = 1 h i = h o

Got questions? Get instant answers now!

Use the law of reflection to prove that the focal length of a mirror is half its radius of curvature. That is, prove that f = R / 2 . Note this is true for a spherical mirror only if its diameter is small compared with its radius of curvature.

Got questions? Get instant answers now!

Referring to the electric room heater considered in problem 5, calculate the intensity of IR radiation in W/m 2 projected by the concave mirror on a person 3.00 m away. Assume that the heating element radiates 1500 W and has an area of 100 cm 2 , and that half of the radiated power is reflected and focused by the mirror.

Figure shows the cross section of a concave mirror. Two rays originating from a point strike the mirror and are reflected. The distance of the point from the mirror is labeled d subscript o = 0.273 m and d subscript i = 3.00 m.
m = −11.0 A = 0.110 m 2 I = 6.82 kW/m 2

Got questions? Get instant answers now!

Two mirrors are inclined at an angle of 60 ° and an object is placed at a point that is equidistant from the two mirrors. Use a protractor to draw rays accurately and locate all images. You may have to draw several figures so that that rays for different images do not clutter your drawing.

Got questions? Get instant answers now!

Two parallel mirrors are facing each other and are separated by a distance of 3 cm. A point object is placed between the mirrors 1 cm from one of the mirrors. Find the coordinates of all the images.

x 2 m = x 2 m 1 , ( m = 1 , 2 , 3 , ... ) , x 2 m + 1 = b x 2 m , ( m = 0 , 1 , 2 , ... ) , with x 0 = a .

Got questions? Get instant answers now!

Questions & Answers

I'm interested in biological psychology and cognitive psychology
Tanya Reply
what does preconceived mean
sammie Reply
physiological Psychology
Nwosu Reply
How can I develope my cognitive domain
Amanyire Reply
why is communication effective
Dakolo Reply
Communication is effective because it allows individuals to share ideas, thoughts, and information with others.
effective communication can lead to improved outcomes in various settings, including personal relationships, business environments, and educational settings. By communicating effectively, individuals can negotiate effectively, solve problems collaboratively, and work towards common goals.
it starts up serve and return practice/assessments.it helps find voice talking therapy also assessments through relaxed conversation.
miss
Every time someone flushes a toilet in the apartment building, the person begins to jumb back automatically after hearing the flush, before the water temperature changes. Identify the types of learning, if it is classical conditioning identify the NS, UCS, CS and CR. If it is operant conditioning, identify the type of consequence positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement or punishment
Wekolamo Reply
please i need answer
Wekolamo
because it helps many people around the world to understand how to interact with other people and understand them well, for example at work (job).
Manix Reply
Agreed 👍 There are many parts of our brains and behaviors, we really need to get to know. Blessings for everyone and happy Sunday!
ARC
A child is a member of community not society elucidate ?
JESSY Reply
Isn't practices worldwide, be it psychology, be it science. isn't much just a false belief of control over something the mind cannot truly comprehend?
Simon Reply
compare and contrast skinner's perspective on personality development on freud
namakula Reply
Skinner skipped the whole unconscious phenomenon and rather emphasized on classical conditioning
war
explain how nature and nurture affect the development and later the productivity of an individual.
Amesalu Reply
nature is an hereditary factor while nurture is an environmental factor which constitute an individual personality. so if an individual's parent has a deviant behavior and was also brought up in an deviant environment, observation of the behavior and the inborn trait we make the individual deviant.
Samuel
I am taking this course because I am hoping that I could somehow learn more about my chosen field of interest and due to the fact that being a PsyD really ignites my passion as an individual the more I hope to learn about developing and literally explore the complexity of my critical thinking skills
Zyryn Reply
good👍
Jonathan
and having a good philosophy of the world is like a sandwich and a peanut butter 👍
Jonathan
generally amnesi how long yrs memory loss
Kelu Reply
interpersonal relationships
Abdulfatai Reply
What would be the best educational aid(s) for gifted kids/savants?
Heidi Reply
treat them normal, if they want help then give them. that will make everyone happy
Saurabh
Got questions? Join the online conversation and get instant answers!
Jobilize.com Reply

Get Jobilize Job Search Mobile App in your pocket Now!

Get it on Google Play Download on the App Store Now




Source:  OpenStax, University physics volume 3. OpenStax CNX. Nov 04, 2016 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col12067/1.4
Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google Inc.

Notification Switch

Would you like to follow the 'University physics volume 3' conversation and receive update notifications?

Ask