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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.
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