REFLECTION FROM A SPHERICAL MIRROR
Law of reflection for a plane mirror is also applicable for spherical mirrors
- Incident ray, reflected ray and normal at the point of incident are in a same plane.
- Angle of incidence and angle of reflection are equal in spherical mirrors
Rules of drawing ray diagram for spherical mirrors
Ray of light passing parallel to the principal axis
For concave mirror Ray of light parallel to the principle axis converges and passes through the focus of the mirror.
For convex mirror Ray of light parallel to principal axis diverges from the focus of the mirror.
Ray of light passing through the focus of the mirror
For concave mirror Ray of light passing through the focus of mirror reflects and passes parallel to the principal axis.
For convex mirror Ray of light passing through the focus of mirror reflects and passes parallel to the principal axis.
Ray of light incident obliquely at the poles
For both concave and convex mirrors the light ray incident obliquely at the pole, reflect back to the same medium at an angle of reflection equal to angle of incidence.
Ray of light incident through the Center of curvature of a mirror
For both concave and convex mirrors the ray of light incident through the centre of curvature, reflect back through the same path of incident ray.