Reflection of spherical mirrors

Very Short Answer Questions

1. What would happen if spherical mirrors were not invented?
A. Spherical mirrors have wide applications. So, if spherical mirrors were not known to
human beings, 1) Their important role in hospitals, rear-view mirrors, would have been
incomplete.
2) Use of concave mirrors in observing inner parts of mouth by denstists would not have
been possible.
3) Use of convex mirrors in ATMs, computer monitors, sun glasses would not have been
possible.
2. Write the uses of spherical mirrors.
A.The concave mirrors are commonly used as shaving mirrors because when we see
our face in the concave mirror then an enlarged and erect image is formed which helps
in smooth shaving.
A concave mirror is used as the reflector in search lights, head lights of motor vehicles,
solar cookers, torches and in table lamps.
A convex mirror is used in automobiles such as scooters, trucks and buses as rear view
mirror to see the traffic behind the vehicle. The reason for it is that a convex mirror
has a much wider field of view and the images formed are smaller and erect.
3. What happens if concave mirrors are used as rear view mirrors of vehicles?
A. Concave mirrors are not used as rare view because they will give an inverted image of
the vehicles behind and for the driver it will be tough to assess the right position of the
image coming from behind.

Short Answer Questions

4. An object is placed in front of concave mirror, magnification is +1.75. What does it mean?
A. The image is erect & magnified.
An object is placed in front of the concave mirror whose magnification comes as +1.75.
This means that magnification is positive and more than 1.
Positive sign (+) means that the image is erect.
Magnification > 1 , the image is magnified.
This is possible when the object is placed in between focus & pole of mirror. This produces
an image which is: Erect, Magnified,Virtual.
5. Is the focal length of the mirror same in all media? Guess.
A.The focal length of a mirror is function of its radius of curvature and is independent of
the medium as it is based on the laws of reflection. So the focal length f, remains same in
every medium.
6. What changes may happen to the images formed by a concave mirror when an object
is moving from focus to beyond ‘C’ of the mirror on its principal axis?
A. As the object moves towards the mirror the image location moves further away from
the mirror and the image size grows (but the image is still inverted). As the object moves
towards the mirror inside the focal point the image becomes virtual and upright behind
the mirror.

7. Draw ray diagram when an object is placed at 8cm from the pole of a convex mirror.

F C
8cm
P

Position of image : Between P & F

Nature : Virtual and Erect
Size : Very small
8. Write the differences between the images formed by a concave mirror when an object is
placed beyond ‘C’ and an object is placed in front of the convex mirror.
A. Object beyond C in concave mirror : image is formed between F and C on the same
side of the mirror. the image is real and inverted and diminished.
object placed in front of a convex mirror can form image at between P and F
respectively.The image formed is virtual, enlarged and erect.

Essay Type Questions

9. An object of 2cm height is placed at 12 cm distance from the pole of concave mirror
and the image is formed at 4 cm from the pole. Find the focal length of the mirror and
height of the image.
10. Write the material required to find the focal length of concave mirror and mention the
precautions to be taken. Write the experimental procedure.
AIM.To Determine Focal Length of a Given Concave Mirror
Materials Required
A concave mirror,A measuring scale,A screen holder,A mirror holderA mirror stand.
Procedure
1.The distance between the selected distinct object should be more than 50 ft.
The concave mirror placed on the mirror stand and the distant object should be facing
each other.
2.The screen should be placed in front of the reflecting surface of the mirror. To obtain a
clear, sharp image the screen should be adjusted.
3.Using a metre scale the distance between the concave mirror and screen can be
determined. The distance is the same as the focal length of the given concave mirror.
Repeat the above procedure thrice to calculate the average focal length.
Observation Table

Sl.no Position of concave Position of screen Focal length = (M-

mirror (M) (S) S)
cm
1 60 cm 50 cm 10 cm
2 60 cm 50 cm 10 cm
3 60 cm 50 cm 10 cm

Result
10 cm is the focal length of the concave mirror.
Precautions
To get a well illuminated and distinct image of the distinct object, the distant object
should be well illuminated.
A concave mirror should be always placed near an open window.
The polished surface of the concave mirror and the distinct object should be facing each
other.
There should not be any hurdle between the rays of light from the object and the
concave mirror.
The screen and the concave mirror stand should be parallel to the measuring scale.
The mirror holder along with the mirror should be perpendicular to the measuring scale.
11. List out the material required and write the experimental procedure to find the image
distance using concave mirror when an object is kept in front of it on its principal axis at
different locations.
A.Materials required: Concave mirror, A ruler ,A screen, A lamp, A mirror stand ,An
object Experimental Procedure:
Set up the apparatus on a table or bench, with the concave mirror securely clamped to a
support so that it is stable and doesn't move.
Place the object on the principal axis of the mirror, at a distance of around 20 cm from
the mirror's surface.
Position the screen or white sheet of paper on the other side of the mirror, at a distance
of around 40-50 cm from the mirror's surface. The screen should be perpendicular to
the principal axis of the mirror.
Turn on the light source and aim it at the object so that it casts a clear, well-defined
image on the screen.
Use the ruler or meter stick to measure the distance between the object and the mirror.
This is the object distance (u).
Measure the distance between the mirror and the screen. This is the image distance (v).
Record the values of u and v.
Repeat steps 2-7 for different object distances, moving the object closer to or farther
away from the mirror each time. Record the corresponding image distances for each
object distance.
Plot a graph of image distance (v) versus object distance (u).
Use the graph to determine the focal length of the mirror. The focal length is the point
where the graph intersects the y-axis.
Observation Table

Object Distance (u) Image Distance (v)

20 cm 60 cm
25 cm 50 cm
30 cm 45 cm
35 cm 42 cm
40 cm 40 cm

Result:From this data, you could plot a graph of image distance versus object distance
and use it to determine the focal length of the concave mirror. Note that the focal length
is the distance between the mirror and the point where all parallel rays of light converge
after being reflected by the mirror. In this experiment, you can estimate the focal length
by finding the point where the graph intersects the y-axis.

12. Information of images formed by concave mirror is given in the table.

S.No. object Image Magnification
1 A Erected +2.75
2 B Inverted -2.75
3 C Equal to that of objects size -1.00
Answer the following questions based on the above information.
i. Which of the object forms virtual image?
ii. Which object is placed at radius of curvature?
iii. Which object forms erected image?
iv. If the height of the object ‘C’ is 3cm, then what is the height of the image?

i .Object A forms an erected image with a positive magnification of +2.75. This indicates
that the image formed is virtual, as the magnification is positive.
ii. Object C forms an inverted image with a magnification of -1. This indicates that the
image formed is real, as the magnification is negative, and it is the same size as the
object.
iii. object A forms an erected image with a magnification of +2.75. A magnification value
greater than 1 indicates that the image is larger than the object, and a positive value
indicates that the image is erect
iv. If the height of object C is 3cm, then the height of the image formed by the concave
mirror will also be 3cm, but inverted. Therefore, the height of the image formed by the
concave mirror will be 3cm.
magnification = height of image / height of object = - v / u
-1 = height of image / 3cm
height of image = height of object x magnification = 3cm x (-1) = -3cm