Mission RM5 Concave Mirror Ray Tracing
Mission RM5 pertains to the manner in which incident rays of light reflect off concave mirrors to produce images of objects. You should have a good understanding of the basic rules of reflection for such mirrors and for how ray diagrams are constructed. The mission consists of 27 questions organized into 8 Question Groups. You must answer one question from each Question Group to complete the mission. The learning outcomes for this mission are ...
Learning Outcomes
- The student should be able to identify the basic rules of reflection for concave mirrors and describe the usefulness of such rules in determining the image location for an object.
- The student should be able to recognize and distinguish between correct and incorrect ray diagrams.
Getting Help
If you are not familiar with this topic, then you should first learn about the topic using our written Tutorial or our Video Tutorial:
The Physics Classroom, Reflection and Mirrors Unit, Lesson 3, Part b
The Physics Classroom, Reflection and Mirrors Unit, Lesson 3, Part c
The Physics Classroom, Reflection and Mirrors Unit, Lesson 3, Part d
- What is meant by the terms principal axis, center of curvature, and focal point?
- What are the two rules for the reflection of light off concave mirror surfaces?
- What is the definition of an image?
- How can one tell how light emerging from the same point on an object will reflect off a concave mirror?
- What is the proper way of constructing ray diagrams for concave mirror images?
- What is the relative size, orientation, and general location of an image for a given object location?
- Where must an object be located in order for there to be no concave mirror image?