PHYSICS & ELECTRONICS / REFLECTION AND REFRACTION / PAGE 4 OF 50
Image Formation in Plane Mirrors
Why you seem to stand behind the glass.
A flat mirror forms an image that appears as far behind the mirror as the object is in front of it. Reflected rays seem to spread out from a point behind the mirror, so the image is virtual and cannot be caught on a screen.
Original diagram: image formation in plane mirrors
The image is upright and the same size as the object, but it is laterally inverted, meaning left and right appear swapped. Two mirrors set at an angle of 90 degrees form three images of an object placed between them.
- The image is virtual, upright and of equal size.
- Image distance equals object distance.
- Lateral inversion swaps left and right.
KEY IDEA
Image distance = object distance; magnification = 1.Browse all 50 physics and electronics pages | Back to the course index