Chapter 29, Problem 7A

In what way does the law of reflection hold for curved mirrors?

To determine

The required condition for the curved mirrors to follow the law of reflection.

Answer to Problem 7A

The law of reflection is valid for a curved mirror if the object size and distance is different from the image of that object.

Explanation of Solution

Introduction:

Laws of reflection are, “The incident ray, the reflected ray and the normal all lie in the same plane” and “The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection”

If a very small flat piece of the curved mirror is considered which will be tangent to the surface, then the light ray will strike that surface and reflect back with angle of reflection that is equal to the angle of incidence. The adjacent piece should be a little tilted but will still hold the laws of reflection. Hence, the laws of reflection still holds but the normal will not be parallel to one another at different points.

Conclusion:

The law of reflection is valid for a curved mirror if the object size and distance is different from the image of that object.