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A flat mirror shows your reflection at the same size. A concave shaving mirror makes your face appear huge and upright. A convex rear-view mirror shows a wide view but makes cars look farther away. Three mirrors — three completely different images. What determines whether an image is magnified, shrunken, upright, or flipped?
A flat mirror shows your reflection at the same size. A concave shaving mirror makes your face appear huge and upright. A convex rear-view mirror shows a wide view but makes cars look farther away. Three mirrors — three completely different images. What determines whether an image is magnified, shrunken, upright, or flipped?
Mirrors form images by reflecting light according to one simple law. But the curvature of the mirror determines how reflected rays converge or diverge — producing the rich variety of images we see in daily life.
For curved mirrors, the mirror equation relates object distance u, image distance v, and focal length f. The focal length of a spherical mirror equals half the radius of curvature. Magnification gives the image size ratio.
Sign convention (real-is-positive): distances measured from mirror surface. Object in front of mirror: u > 0. Real image in front of mirror: v > 0. Virtual image behind mirror: v < 0. Focal length: concave f > 0, convex f < 0. Concave mirrors (converging): can form real or virtual images depending on object position. When u > f: real, inverted image. When u < f: virtual, upright, magnified. Used in telescopes, satellite dishes, make-up mirrors. Convex mirrors (diverging): always form virtual, upright, diminished images regardless of object position. The image is always behind the mirror. Used as wide-angle rear-view mirrors and security mirrors in shops. For a spherical mirror, f = R/2 where R is the radius of curvature.