Reflection and Image Formation by Plane Mirror

Purpose

a. To study the reflection of light.

b. To study the formation and characteristics of images formed by a plane mirror.

Theory
When a light (wave) travelling in one medium encounters a boundary of another medium, part of
the light bounces back to the same medium, called the Reflection and some part of light may pass into
the second medium, called the Refraction. In this lab, you will study reflection of light from different
mirrors.
Figure 1 shows an example of reflection from a plane surface such as mirror. The incident ray
makes an angle with the normal to the surface called the angle of incidence, θi. The reflected ray makes
an angle with the normal to the surface called the angle of reflection, θr. The law of reflection states that
the angle of reflection (θr) equals the angle of incidence (θi),

θr = θi (1)
Normal
The normal, incident ray and reflected ray all lie in the same Incident ray Reflected ray
plane (Fig. 1).

In this lab, you will study the image formation by

plane mirrors using an online simulation (Fig. 2 below).

Fig. 1: Reflection of light from a mirror

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Figure 2 illustrates how images are formed by a plane mirror. Consider a point ‘O’ on an object.
The rays of light coming from the point reflect according to the laws of reflection. Out of several
possible rays from the point, we need at least two rays to locate the image.

normal
O I

Fig. 2: Image formation by a plane mirror.

For a plane mirror, as shown in Fig. 2, the normals are parallel for both incident rays, so they reflect
with different angles of reflection. The reflected rays upon incident on our eye see the image.
Intersection of the reflected rays is the position of image. However, the reflected rays do not intersect
as they are diverged. We have to back trace the reflected rays (by dotted lines) to find the intersection,
I. Our eyes see as if the light is coming from the point I behind the mirror. Thus, it is a virtual image.
Note the object distance (do) and image distance (di) is same in plane mirrors. But the distance of a
virtual image is taken as a negative value. This is required by a sign convention for mirrors. For such
case the magnification is 1 by the formula, m = -di /do. That’s why you see your identical image on the
mirror. But why does your right hand become left hand and vice versa in mirror?

Simulation tools

This lab uses the online simulator:

Plane mirrors: https://ophysics.com/l9.html

Procedure

Throughout, you must take screenshots of your work and include them in your final report, to show
that you have conducted the simulations.

Plane mirror (The data sheet is on pages 4 and 5)

(a) Reflection of light by a plane mirror

1. Open the plane mirror simulation at https://ophysics.com/l9.html.

2. The simulation opens with a default object which is a blue, vertical arrow. However, you
can alter the length and angle of the arrow. You can also observe light rays traveling from
your choice of so-called “control points”.
3. Check the box at the top of the simulation marked “Control points”. This will enable you
to move the top and bottom of the object, and the 4 control points on the plane mirror.
4. Check the box at the bottom of the simulation marked “Show Grid & Axes”. This will
enable you to make measurements.
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 5. Move the control points for the object as follows:
a. for the top of the object: (-6,2)
b. for the bottom of the object: (-6,0).
The object should now appear as a vertical arrow of height 2 units.
6. Move the control points on the mirror to the following 4 positions: (0,-3), (0,-1), (0,1) and
(0,3).
7. Check the boxes marked “Show Incident Rays” and “Show Reflected Rays” and “Show
Normals”.
8. Look at the angles made by the incident and reflected rays to the normal through each
control point on the mirror. What can you say about the angle of incidence (relative to the
normal) and the angle of reflection (relative to the normal)?
9. Uncheck all the boxes and click and drag the object to another position on the display of your
choice. Feel free to rotate the object slightly, if you would like. Now, what would you predict
with respect to the relationship between the angle of incidence and angle of reflection from the
object in this new position? Check all the boxes again and inspect the angles. Was your
prediction correct?

(b) Image of a point object formed by plane mirror

1. You are now going to make a point object. Move the lower control point on the current
object from the position (-6,0) to (-6,2), in other words so that both of the control points on
the object are at (-6,2). All rays should now start from that point.
2. Click the box “Show Image” at the top of the screen and the box “Show Virtual Rays” at the
bottom right of the screen. Where is the image located? Note its (x,y) coordinates. Is the
image virtual or real?
3. Move the object so that it is a point object at each of the following locations:
 (-6,0) ; (-6,-2). [in each case, the top and bottom control points of the object
overlap]
In each case, note the (x,y) coordinates where the image is formed

(c) Image of an extended object formed by a plane mirror

1. Set the control points on the object to being different, in order to form an extended
object (as in part a). Specifically, set the bottom control point on the object to (-5,0)
and the top control point to (-7,2).
2. What is the location of the image? Give the (x,y) coordinates of the top and bottom of
the image. Is it real or virtual? Compute the object and image distances, and
corresponding to the bottom points of object and image and repeat also for the top
points. Use these values in the computation part below.
3. The whole object can be dragged by moving it using the mouse. Does the size of the
image change if the object is moved towards, or away from, the mirror? What does this
tell you about our eyes’ perception of images in a flat mirror?

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Computation

For part (c), step 2 above, use the object distance and image distance corresponding to bottom points of
object and image (and then again for top points). Are the points of image located at the same distance
from the mirror as the corresponding points of object? For bottom points (and then for top points),
calculate the ratio -di /do. What does it represent? (Hint: See the theory part).

Questions

1. What is meant by a “virtual image”?

2. If you walk towards a full-length mirror, your image “walks” towards you. If your speed is
1.5 m/s, what is the speed of your image?

Teisha Bucknor Data sheet

Name: Mahafuzur Rahman Group: 7 Date online- experiment performed: 4/4/23
Jia Yu Liu
Part (a): Reflection of light by a plane mirror

Step 8) Angle of incidence relative to the normal:The incidence rays point into the normal rays.
Angle of reflection relative to the normal: Reflection rays point outwards from the normal rays.
Step 9) New position of object: Top (7,0) Bottom (-8,2)
With the boxes unchecked, what relation do you see between angle of incidence and angle of
reflection? The angle of incidence and angle of reflection connect to one another from each of the points of the
arrow.
Check the boxes again, and compare to your prediction. Was your prediction correct?
Yes, my prediction was correct because for each incidence ray resulted in a reflection ray that came out of the same way of the incidence
ray.
Part (b): Image of a point object formed by plane mirror

Step 2) Image location (x,y): (6,2)

Is the image virtual or real? The image is virtual.
Step 3) Object at (6,0): Image location (x,y): (-6,0)
Object at (6, -2): Image location (x,y): (-6,-2)

Part (c) Image of an extended object formed by a plane mirror

Step 2) Location of Image: Top (x,y): (7,2) Bottom (x,y): (5,0) Is the image real or virtual?Virtual
Step 3) Does the size of the image change if the object is moved towards the mirror? No
Does the size of the image change if the object is moved away from the mirror? No
Our eyes perceive images exactly how it is in
What does this tell you about our eyes’ perception of images in a flat mirror? real life. Due to the light reflection, we see
exactly as if the light is behind the mirror.
Computation: For part (c) step (2) measure the object distance, do and the image distance, di
for bottom points (and repeat for top points). Are they equal for bottom (or top) points?
Calculate the ratio -di /do (for bottom points): -5/5 -di /do (for top points): -7/7
What does this ratio represent? The ratio is 1 which represents an identical image.
Answer to questions:
1. A virtual image is an image that created by the real image due to reflection or refraction. The rays appear to
intersect but aren't actually meeting, unlike a real image where the rays do in fact meet.
2. The speed of your image is 1.5 m/s as well. Mirrors do not change the speed of objects.

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Use this page if you need additional space

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