Reflection by Curved Surfaces MCQs Quiz | Class 10
Welcome to the Class X Science (Code 086) quiz from Unit III: Natural Phenomena. This quiz focuses on ‘Reflection by Curved Surfaces MCQs Quiz | Class 10’ and covers essential concepts related to reflection concepts for spherical mirrors. Test your understanding of reflection principles, types of spherical mirrors, image formation, and mirror properties. Submit your answers to view your score and download a detailed PDF answer sheet for revision.
Understanding Reflection by Curved Surfaces
Spherical mirrors are part of a sphere. They come in two main types: concave mirrors (reflecting surface curved inwards) and convex mirrors (reflecting surface curved outwards). These mirrors form images by reflecting light, and their properties are crucial for various applications, from everyday uses like rear-view mirrors to specialized instruments.
Key Concepts of Spherical Mirrors
- Pole (P): The geometric center of the spherical mirror.
- Center of Curvature (C): The center of the sphere from which the mirror is cut.
- Radius of Curvature (R): The distance between the pole and the center of curvature (R = 2f).
- Principal Axis: The straight line passing through the pole and the center of curvature.
- Principal Focus (F): The point on the principal axis where rays parallel to the principal axis converge (concave) or appear to diverge from (convex) after reflection.
- Focal Length (f): The distance between the pole and the principal focus.
Image Formation by Concave Mirrors
Concave mirrors can form both real and virtual images, depending on the object’s position.
| Object Position | Image Position | Nature of Image | Size of Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| At infinity | At F | Real, inverted | Highly diminished, point-sized |
| Beyond C | Between F and C | Real, inverted | Diminished |
| At C | At C | Real, inverted | Same size |
| Between F and C | Beyond C | Real, inverted | Enlarged |
| At F | At infinity | Real, inverted | Highly enlarged |
| Between P and F | Behind the mirror | Virtual, erect | Enlarged |
Image Formation by Convex Mirrors
Convex mirrors always form virtual, erect, and diminished images, regardless of the object’s position.
- Object at infinity: Image at F, behind the mirror; virtual, erect, highly diminished.
- Object between infinity and P: Image between P and F, behind the mirror; virtual, erect, diminished.
Mirror Formula and Magnification
The relationship between object distance (u), image distance (v), and focal length (f) is given by the mirror formula:
1/v + 1/u = 1/f
Magnification (m) describes the relative size of the image with respect to the object:
m = Image height / Object height = -v / u
A positive magnification indicates an erect (virtual) image, while a negative magnification indicates an inverted (real) image.
Applications of Spherical Mirrors
- Concave Mirrors: Used in shaving mirrors, dentists’ mirrors, solar furnaces, headlights of cars (as reflectors), and searchlights.
- Convex Mirrors: Used as rear-view mirrors in vehicles (due to wider field of view and always forming erect images) and in street light reflectors.
Quick Revision Checklist
- Distinguish between concave and convex mirrors.
- Identify pole, focus, and center of curvature.
- Recall rules for drawing ray diagrams.
- Understand image characteristics for different object positions.
- Apply mirror formula and magnification formula with proper sign conventions.
- List practical applications of each mirror type.
Practice Questions
- An object 3 cm high is placed at a distance of 10 cm from a concave mirror of focal length 20 cm. Find the position, nature, and size of the image.
- A convex mirror used for rear-view on an automobile has a radius of curvature of 3.00 m. If a bus is located at 5.00 m from this mirror, find the position, nature, and size of the image.
- State two uses of a concave mirror and two uses of a convex mirror.
- What are the sign conventions for spherical mirrors as per the New Cartesian Sign Convention?
- If the magnification of a mirror is -1, what does this tell you about the image formed?
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