Spherical Mirror Terms


 
 
Concept Explanation
 

Spherical Mirror Terms

Spherical Mirrors:

Spherical mirrors are a special type of curved mirrors in which the surface of the mirror forms a part of a sphere.  A highly polished curved surface whose reflecting surface is a cut part of a hollow sphere of a glass or any polished metal is called spherical mirror.

Terms Related to Spherical Mirrors:

The figure below shows the  various terms used for spherical mirrors are:

1. Centre of Curvature (C) : It is the centre of sphere of which the mirror is a part.

2. Radius of Curvature (R) : It is the radius of the sphere of which the mirror is a part.

3. Pole (P) : It is the geometrical centre of the spherical reflecting surface,

4. Principal axis : It is the straight line joining the centre of curvature to the pole.

5. Focus (F) : When a narrow beam of rays of light, parallel to the principal axis and close to it (know as paraxial rays), is incident on the surface of a mirror, the reflected beam is found to converge (concave mirror) or appear to diverge (convex mirror ) from a point principal axis. This point is called focus.

6. Focal Length (f) : It is the distance between the pole and the principal focus. For spherical mirrors

Focal;length =frac{Radius ;of ;Curvature}{2}

f =frac{R}{2}

7. Linear Aperture: It is the diameter of the spherical mirror. It is denoted by the distance between A and B.

8. Angular Aperture: It is the angle which the diameter of the spherical mirror subtends at the centre of the hollow sphere of which the spherical mirror is a part.. It is denoted by the angle ACB in the figure.

Sample Questions
(More Questions for each concept available in Login)
Question : 1

Which of the following are correct :

(a) Principal axis is the straight line joining the centre of curvature to the pole.

(b) Linear Aperture is the diameter of the spherical mirror.

(c) Focal length is the distance between the pole and the principal focus.

Right Option : D
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Question : 2

A highly polished curved surface whose reflecting surface is a cut part of a hollow sphere of a glass or any polished metal is called __________________________ .

Right Option : B
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Question : 3

The centre of the spherical mirror is known as ______________

Right Option : A
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Explanation
 
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