draw a well labelled diagram and explain the image formed on a plane mirror
Answers
This is a short tutorial on how to draw ray diagrams for plane mirrors. Click on the images to view a larger version.
initial ray diagram
Initially, we have an object in front of a plane mirror.
First, we draw an image of the object on the other side of the mirror
2nd ray diagram
Distance A is equal to distance B and the image size is the same size as the object size.
Second, we draw light rays from the image to the eye
3rd ray diagram
The image is virtual. Broken lines from the image to mirror indicate virtual rays. Virtual image: Light rays do not actually meet at the image position. Because of that, a virtual image cannot be projected on a screen.
Continuous lines from the mirror to eye indicate the reflected rays.
Third, we join the light rays from the mirror to the object
4th ray diagram
Lines joining the object to the positions of the reflected rays on the mirror represent the incident rays.
Answer:
The image formed by a plane mirror is always virtual (meaning that the light rays do not actually come from the image), upright, and of the same shape and size as the object it is reflecting. A virtual image is a copy of an object formed at the location from which the light rays appear to come.
