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Reflection Notes
You will be given a work packet in class allowing you to construct ray diagrams, to illustrate the relationship between object and image when concave and convex mirrors are used. The "mirror equation" will be derived, which will allow you to solve the reflection problems that are part of this chapter.
In addition to the chapter in our text, an excellent source of information related to the reflection of light from spherical mirrors can be found in the Physics Classroom tutorial pages, written by Tom Henderson, science teacher at Glenbrook South High School in Glenview, Illinois. Your first lab, "Reflection - Plane Mirror", has been linked to Lesson 1 and Lesson 2. Read Lesson 3 (concave mirrors) and Lesson 4 (convex mirrors), paying attention to those sections which discuss ray diagrams and image characteristics. These sections will be important when preparing for your second lab, "Reflection - Spherical Mirrors" (not yet published on Mr. Kovall's Neighborhood), and for solving reflection problems.
The following link provides a very good interactive Java Applet which uses a three-ray diagram to demonstrate the relationship between object and image as light reflects from a diverging mirror: http://www.physics.uoguelph.ca/applets/Intro_physics//kisalev/java/dmirr/index.html