Reflection in Curved Mirrors

What is Reflection?

Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror?  Of course you have, and the mirror allows you to see what we call your reflection.  A reflection is light that travels in a different direction once it comes in contact with a surface.  For mirrors, all of the light that strikes the mirror is reflected in the opposite direction and the reflected beams of light create images. 

How is Reflection in a Curved Mirror Different from a Flat Mirror?

If you have ever used a makeup mirror or walked through the fun house at an amusement park, you have noticed that mirrors don't always reflect an image of your true self.  For the makeup mirror, you are able to see the tiniest imperfection on your skin that was not visible with the naked eye!  In the fun house, you can walk in front of several different curved mirrors see your reflection as tall and shiny or short and stubby.  These effects are caused by the reflection of light off of surfaces that are not perpendicular.

We have already studied the effects of reflection when we watched waves on a string reflect off of a surface and how billiard balls bounce off a surface.  Remember that light acts as both a particle and a wave, so what did we determine about how the angle of incidence and angle of reflection for particles are related?  In flat mirrors, the angle of incidence = angle of reflection, relative to a normal line from the surface.  Curved mirror reflection follows the same principles as a flat mirror, the only difference is that the surface of the mirror is not completely flat.

Now, proceed to the task of this WebQuest to explore the images created with curved mirrors.