Curved Mirrors

Flashcards for curved mirrors vocabulary and concepts.

Principal Axis

The straight line perpendicular to the surface of the mirror that divides the mirror in half.

Focal Point

The point where incident light rays that are parallel to the principal axis converge after reflecting from the mirror.

Focal Length

The distance between the mirror and the focal point; equal to r/2.

Concave Mirror

A mirror with a reflective surface, the edges of which curve toward the observer.

Real Image

An image formed by converging light rays.

Spherical Aberration

An effect that makes an image look fuzzy due to rays reflecting off a spherical mirror with a large diameter and small radius of curvature.

Convex Mirror

A reflective surface with edges that curve away from the observer.

Magnification

The property of spherical mirrors that refers to how much larger or smaller an image is relative to the object.

Ray

A line drawn at a right angle to a wavefront; represents the direction of wave travel.