explain light and reflection lesson ray diagram
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The theme of this unit has been that we see an object because light from the object travels to our eyes as we sight along a line at the object. Similarly, we see an image of an object because light from the object reflects off a mirror and travel to our eyes as we sight at the image location of the object. From these two basic premises, we have defined the image location as the location in space where light appears to diverge from. Ray diagrams have been a valuable tool for determining the path taken by light from the object to the mirror to our eyes. In this section of Lesson 3, we will investigate the method for drawing ray diagrams for objects placed at various locations in front of a concave mirror.
To draw these diagrams, we will have to recall the two rules of reflection for concave mirrors:
Any incident ray traveling parallel to the principal axis on the way to the mirror will pass through the focal point upon reflection.
Any incident ray passing through the focal point on the way to the mirror will travel parallel to the principal axis upon reflection.
Earlier in this lesson, the following diagram was shown to illustrate the path of light from an object to mirror to an eye.

In this diagram five incident rays are drawn along with their corresponding reflected rays. Each ray intersects at the image location and then diverges to the eye of an observer. Every observer would observe the same image location and every light ray would follow the law of reflection. Yet only two of these rays would be needed to determine the image location since it only requires two rays to find the intersection point. Of the five incident rays drawn, two of them correspond to the incident rays described by our two rules of reflection for concave mirrors. Because they are the easiest and most predictable pair of rays to draw, these will be the two rays used through the remainder of this lesson.
To draw these diagrams, we will have to recall the two rules of reflection for concave mirrors:
Any incident ray traveling parallel to the principal axis on the way to the mirror will pass through the focal point upon reflection.
Any incident ray passing through the focal point on the way to the mirror will travel parallel to the principal axis upon reflection.
Earlier in this lesson, the following diagram was shown to illustrate the path of light from an object to mirror to an eye.

In this diagram five incident rays are drawn along with their corresponding reflected rays. Each ray intersects at the image location and then diverges to the eye of an observer. Every observer would observe the same image location and every light ray would follow the law of reflection. Yet only two of these rays would be needed to determine the image location since it only requires two rays to find the intersection point. Of the five incident rays drawn, two of them correspond to the incident rays described by our two rules of reflection for concave mirrors. Because they are the easiest and most predictable pair of rays to draw, these will be the two rays used through the remainder of this lesson.
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