Mirrors 101

glancing angle

The glancing angle

Is the angle between an incoming ray or outgoing ray and the mirror surface rather than the normal of the mirror surface.

Why is the glancing angle important

In optics and X-ray physics, the glancing angle determines how much of the wave interacts with the surface and affects phenomena like total internal reflection and diffraction.

Formula for calculating number of

Images formed by two inclined mirrors

N=\left(\frac{360}{\theta}\right)-1

Concave mirrors

These type of curved mirrors produces both inverted and erect images, but the erect images are usually larger than the size of the original object.

Convex morrow

A type of curved mirror that produces diminished and upright images always

Good to know

Relationship between radius of curvature (R) and the focal length (f)

f=\frac{R}{2} The formula relating radius of curvature and the focal length

Concave mirrors magic

They can form real or virtual images depending on the object’s position, these images are formed on a screen when they’re real but cannot be formed on a screen when virtual

Convex mirrors magic

Convex mirrors always produce virtual images which are upright and diminished , and are formed behind the mirror.

Knowing the nature of a mirror

Mirror formula

This formula relates the object distance (u), image distance (v), and the focal length (f).

\frac{1}{f}=\frac{1}{u}+\frac{1}{v}

Magnification formulam=\frac{h_{i}}{h_{o}}=\frac{v}{u}

This formula relates the image distance (h_{i} ) and the object distance (h_{o} ) by the formula

Real images

These images are formed as a result of the actual intersection of two or more rays from an object. Real images are formed on a screen.

Virtual images

These images are formed by the appa