Mirrors
We
use mirrors in our daily life for various purposes. Mainly, we use them for
beautifying us. The mirror is an optical device with a polished surface that
reflects the light falling on it. A typical mirror is a glass sheet coated with
aluminium or silver on one of its sides to produce an image. Mirrors have a
plane or curved surface. Curved mirrors have surfaces that are spherical,
cylindrical, parabolic and ellipsoid. The shape of a mirror determines the type
of image it forms. Plane mirrors form the perfect image of an object. Whereas,
curved mirrors produce images that are either enlarged or diminished.
Method of coating a glass platewith a thin layer of reflecting
metals was in practice during the 16th century in Venice, Italy. They used an
amalgam of tin and mercury for this purpose. Nowadays, a thin layer of molten
aluminium or silver is used for coating glass plates that will then become
mirrors.
1. Spherical mirrors
Spherical
mirrors are one form of curved mirrors. If the curved mirror is a part of a
sphere, then it is called a ‘spherical mirror’. It resembles the shape of a piece
cut out from a spherical surface. One side
of this mirror is silvered and the reflection of light occurs at the other
side.
Concave mirror
A
spherical mirror, in which the reflection of light occurs at its concave
surface, is called a concave mirror. These mirrors magnify the object placed
close to them. The most common example of a concave mirror is the make-up
mirror.
Convex mirror
A
spherical mirror, in which the reflection of light occurs at its convex
surface, is called a convex mirror. The image formed by these mirrors is
smaller than the object. Most common convex mirrors are rear viewing mirrors
used in vehicles.
Convex mirrors used invehicles as rear-view mirrorsare labeled with
the safety warning: ‘Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear’. This
is because inside the mirrors, vehicles will appear to becoming at a long
distance.
2. Parabolic mirrors
A
parabolic mirror, which is in the shape of a parabola, is one type of curved
mirror. It has a concave reflecting surface and this surface directs the entire
incident beam of light to converge at its focal point.
In
the same way, light rays generated by the source placed at the focal point will
fall on this surface and they will be diverged in a direction, which is parallel
to the principal axis of the parabolic mirror. Hence, the light rays will be
reflected to travel a long distance, without getting diminished.
Parabolic
mirrors, also known as parabolic reflectors, are used to collect or project
light energy, heat energy, sound energy and radio waves. They are used in
reflecting telescopes, radio telescopes and parabolic microphones. They are
also used in solar cookers and solar water heaters.
The principle behind the working of a parabolic mirror has been
known since the Greco-Roman times. The first mention of these structures was
found in the book, ‘On Burning Mirrors’, written by the mathematician Diocles.
They were also studied in the 10th century, by a physicist called Ibn Sahl. The
first parabolic mirrors were constructed by Heinrich Hertz, a German physicist,
in the form of reflector antennae in the year 1888.
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