Curved Mirrors

 

Concave, or converging, mirrors can form a variety of types and sizes of images depending on where the object is located relative to the focal point and center of curvature.  When the object is closest to the concave mirror, the image is virtual, upright and larger than the object. Moving the object farther from the mirror, when the object is at the focal point there is no image. Moving the object farther still, when the object is between the focal point and the center of curvature, the image is real, inverted and larger than the object. As the object moves even farther away, when the object is at the focal point, the image is real, inverted and the same size as the object. Moving the object beyond the center of curvature, the image is still real and inverted, but is not smaller than the object. In contrast, the convex mirror can produce only one type of image. The images produced by a convex, or diverging, mirror are always virtual, upright and smaller than the object. Each type of mirror has three principle rays – parallel, focal and center rays – that can be used to locate the image.