Concave Mirrors: Uses and its Applications

Concave mirrors are used in our everyday life. In a concave mirror, the reflecting surface is inwards. The intersection of two reflected rays gives the position of the image. The image’s position, size, and nature formed by a concave mirror depend on the object’s position. The image formation using concave mirrors is a reflection of light by spherical mirrors. There are several simple uses of concave mirrors. This chapter gives a solid base for understanding geometrical optics, and hence the student must understand this thoroughly. The center of the reflecting surface is the point of the pole ‘P.’ The center of a sphere they form is called the center of curvature ‘C’. The distance between ‘C’ to ‘P’ is the radius of curvature. For a concave mirror, the center of curvature lies at the front of the reflecting surface. The midpoint of ‘C’ to ‘P’ is called the focal point ‘F’ of the respective mirror, also called the principal focus. It gets its name because it lies on the principal axis.










