Reflection and Mirrors - Mission RM8 Detailed Help

The diagram shows a 'point object' (drawn in RED) placed in front of a convex mirror. Five sets of incident and reflected rays (numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) are shown. Which two of these sets are correct? 


 
Convex Mirrors - Rules of Reflection
Light reflects off any surface - plane mirror, curved mirror, or non-mirror - according to the law of reflection. For convex mirrors, some generalizations can be made to simplify ray construction. They are:
  • An incident ray traveling parallel to the principal axis will reflect and travel in line with the focal point.
  • An incident ray traveling towards the focal point (on the opposite side of the mirror) will reflect and travel parallel to the principal axis.
  • An incident ray traveling towards the center of curvature (on the opposite side of the mirror) will reflect and travel back along the same path from which it came.


 
The diagram shows five incident rays approaching a convex mirror, all of which originate at the arrowhead of the object. They reflect and should diverge from each other upon reflection. Three of the five reflected rays are not drawn with the proper direction. Your goal is to identify the two reflected rays that are drawn correctly. Inspect each individual reflected ray and ask if it seems to follow the law of reflection (which isn't always obvious) or if it seems to be consistent with the three rules of reflection described in the Know the Law section. It may be necessary to place a straight edge on top of the monitor along the line of the ray in order to tell which point the reflected ray extends to.


 

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