Mirrors - AP Physics 2

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Question

Suppose that an object is placed 15cm in front of a concave mirror that has a radius of curvature equal to 20cm. Will the resulting image be upright or inverted? Will it be a real or virtual image?

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Answer

To solve this problem, it is essential to use the mirror equation:

Where:

is the distance the object is from the mirror

is the distance the image is from the mirror

is the focal length of the mirror

To calculate the focal length, we'll have to use the radius of curvature:

Plugging this value into the top equation and rearranging, we obtain:

Therefore, the image distance is:

Since the image distance calculated above is a positive value, this means that the image forms on the same side of the mirror that the reflected light traveled. Thus, the image is real.

To determine whether the image is inverted or upright, we'll need to use the magnification equation:

The magnification obtained above is a negative number. As a result, the image formed from this scenario will be inverted.

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