Curved mirror image formation

We have also seen how images are created by the reflection of light off curved mirrors. Suppose that a light bulb is placed in front of a concave mirror; the light bulb will emit light in a variety of directions, some of which will strike the mirror. Each individual ray of light will reflect according to the law of reflection. Upon reflecting, the light will converge at a point. At the point where the light from the object converges, a replica or likeness of the actual object is created; this replica is known as the image. Once the reflected light rays reached the image location, they begin to diverge. The point where all the reflected light rays converge is known as the image point. Not only is it the point where light rays converge, it is also the point where reflected light rays appear to an observer to be coming from. Regardless of the observer's location, the observer will see a ray of light passing through the real image location. To view the image, the observer must line her sight up with the image location in order to see the image via the reflected light ray. The diagram below depicts several rays from the object reflecting from the mirror and converging at the image location. The reflected light rays then begin to diverge, with each one being capable of assisting an individual in viewing the image of the object.

For plane mirrors, virtual images are formed. Light does not actually pass through the virtual image location; it only appears to an observer as though the light was emanating from the virtual image location. The image formed by this concave mirror is a real image. When a real image is formed, it still appears to an observer as though light is diverging from the real image location. Only in the case of a real image, light is actually passing through the image location.