2.Once these incident rays strike the mirror, reflect them according to the two rules of reflection for convex mirrors. The ray that travels towards the focal point will reflect and travel parallel to the principal axis. Use a straight edge to accurately draw its path. The ray which traveled parallel to the principal axis on the way to the mirror will reflect and travel in a direction such that its extension passes through the focal point. Align a straight edge with the point of incidence and the focal point, and draw the second reflected ray. Place arrowheads upon the rays to indicate their direction of travel. The two rays should be diverging upon reflection.
3.Locate and mark the image of the top of the object. The image point of the top of the object is the point where the two reflected rays intersect. Since the two reflected rays are diverging, they must be extended behind the mirror in order to intersect. Using a straight edge, extend each of the rays using dashed lines. Draw the extensions until they intersect. The point of intersection is the image point of the top of the object. Both reflected rays would appear to diverge from this point. If your were to draw a third pair of incident and reflected rays, then the extensions of the third reflected ray would also pass through this point. This is merely the point where all light from the top of the object would appear to diverge from upon reflecting off the mirror. Of course, the rest of the object has an image as well and it can be found by applying the same three steps to another chosen point.
4.Repeat the process for the bottom of the object. The goal of a ray diagram is to determine the location, size, orientation, and type of image which is formed by the convex mirror. Typically, this requires determining where the image of the upper and lower extreme of the object is located and then tracing the entire image. After completing the first three steps, only the image location of the top extreme of the object has been found. Thus, the process must be repeated for the point on the bottom of the object. If the bottom of the object lies upon the principal axis (as it does in this example), then the image of this point will also lie upon the principal axis and be the same distance from the mirror as the image of the top of the object. At this point the complete image can be filled in.
2.Once these incident rays strike the mirror, reflect them according to the two rules of reflection for concave mirrors. The ray that passes through the focal point on the way to the mirror will reflect and travel parallel to the principal axis. Use a straight edge to accurately draw its path. The ray which traveled parallel to the principal axis on the way to the mirror will reflect and travel through the focal point. Place arrowheads upon the rays to indicate their direction of travel. Extend the rays past their point of intersection.
3.Mark the image of the top of the object. The image point of the top of the object is the point where the two reflected rays intersect. If your were to draw a third pair of incident and reflected rays, then the third reflected ray would also pass through this point. This is merely the point where all light from the top of the object would intersect upon reflecting off the mirror. Of course, the rest of the object has an image as well and it can be found by applying the same three steps to another chosen point.
4.Repeat the process for the bottom of the object. The goal of a ray diagram is to determine the location, size, orientation, and type of image which is formed by the concave mirror. Typically, this requires determining where the image of the upper and lower extreme of the object is located and then tracing the entire image. After completing the first three steps, only the image location of the top extreme of the object has been found. Thus, the process must be repeated for the point on the bottom of the object. If the bottom of the object lies upon the principal axis (as it does in this example), then the image of this point will also lie upon the principal axis and be the same distance from the mirror as the image of the top of the object. At this point the entire image can be filled in.