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Lesson

Reflection by Spherical Mirrors

Concave and convex mirrors, focus, ray diagrams, magnification, and mirror formula.

45min lesson

Objectives3 goals Lesson4 blocks Review7 assets Practice5 items

Learning objectives

What to understand

3 goals

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Identify pole, centre of curvature, principal axis, focus, and focal length.
Draw standard ray diagrams for concave and convex mirrors.
Use mirror formula and magnification with correct sign convention.

Lesson

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4 sections

Concept

Key idea

A spherical mirror is part of a reflecting sphere. A concave mirror has the reflecting surface curved inward, while a convex mirror has the reflecting surface bulging outward. The pole P is the centre of the mirror surface, C is the centre of curvature, and F is the principal focus. For small-aperture mirrors, reflected rays obey the laws of reflection. A ray parallel to the principal axis reflects through the focus for a concave mirror, and appears to come from the focus for a convex mirror. A ray through C reflects back along the same path. The mirror formula is 1/f=1/v+1/u. Magnification is m=-v/u=h_i/h_o. In Cartesian sign convention, distances measured in the direction of incident light are positive and those opposite are negative.

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4 lesson sections4 cards / 3 notes3 MCQs / 2 written questions

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Notes

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3 notes

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1
Focal length
2
Ray rule
3
Sign check

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3 MCQs2 LAQsMixed test

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Reflection by Spherical Mirrors

What to understand

Step-by-step lesson

Key idea

Worked example

Remember

Exam focus

Key idea

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Note highlights

Focal length

Ray rule

Sign check

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Light

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Around this topic

Reflection by Spherical Mirrors

What to understand

Step-by-step lesson

Key idea

Worked example

Remember

Exam focus

Key idea

Choose your next activity

Note highlights

Focal length

Ray rule

Sign check

Check this topic

Light

Mark this topic complete

Around this topic