Mirrors Flashcards
What is Rule #1 of Mirrors?
The incident ray and reflected ray will always lay on the same plane.
What is Rule #2 of Mirrors?
The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection (when plane is at 0° or 180°).
Why does light reflect off smooth surfaces?
Because if the light hits a rough surface it would not reflect it, but it would disperse it.
It is the also the “source” ray, meaning it is the original ray of light.
Incident Ray
It is the result of an incident ray, and it is its reflection.
Reflected Ray
An imaginary line in between the incident ray and reflected ray, used as a reference point
Normal line
A term for the mirror itself
Plane
Indicator of incident ray
0’i
Indicator of reflected ray
0’r
Our main reference line
Principal axis
This corresponds to the center of the sphere related to the mirror.
C (center of the curvature)
The location where all parallel rays hit and reflect from
F (focus or focal point)
This is also where the mirror intersects the principal axis.
V (vertex of the point at the center of the mirror)
The abbreviation for the “radius of curvature”
R
This is the distance between the vertex and focal point of any spherical mirror
f (focal length)
