Question

The mirror used as a rear view mirror is ___

Answer 1

Convex Mirror:

1. A Convex mirror is a curved mirror derived from a sphere, where the reflective surface bulges out towards the light source.
2. This bulged-out surface reflects light outwards and is not used to focus light.
3. This mirror forms a virtual image as the focal point (F), and the center of curvature (2F) are imaginary points in the mirror that cannot be reached.
4. This results in the formation of images that cannot be projected on a screen as the image is inside the mirror- a virtual image.
5. The image looks smaller than the object from a distance but gets larger as the object gets closer to the mirror.
6. A rear view mirror uses this property of a convex mirror.

Ray diagram for a convex mirror: