Chapter 17.1, Problem 8SSC

To determine

The position, height, and type of the image of a dog from a plane mirror.

Answer to Problem 8SSC

  $d_i=3.0\text{ m}$

  ${\text{h}}_i=50.0\text{ cm = 0}\text{.5 m}$

The image is virtual.

Explanation of Solution

Introduction:

Plane mirrors are the surfaces, one side of which is polished and the other side is coated with silver. Major part of the light incident on the plane mirror gets reflected back. The image produced by a plane mirror is virtual, erect and its size is same as that of the object. And also, the distance between the image and the mirror is equal to the distance between the mirror and the object.

The dog looks its image through a plane mirror.Since the plane mirror forms an image which is at anequal distance behind it as the object is in front of it. The image of a dog is formed at a distance $d_i=3.0\text{ m}$ from the mirror.

The size of the image formed by a plane mirror is same as that of the object and hence image height of dog is ${\text{h}}_i=50.0\text{ cm = 0}\text{.5 m}$ .

As the plane mirror always produce a virtual image, the image of the dog is virtual.