Question

Describe the phenomenon of lateral inversion in a plane mirror with help of a ray diagram.

Answer 1

1. Lateral inversion refers to the image being laterally inverted with respect to the original object, that is, the left side of the object appears as the right side of the object and vice versa.
2. The ray diagram for this phenomenon would be:

3.1 The rays and the reflected rays are drawn from the object.

3.2 The rays are extended to meet behind the mirror. The image forms at the points where the reflected rays meet.

3.3 The formed image is found to be laterally inverted.