Uses of Spherical Mirrors

Introduction to Uses of Spherical Mirrors

The reflecting surface of a spherical mirror is curved inwards and outwards. In fact, a spherical mirror is that mirror whose reflecting surface is a part of a hollow sphere of glass. One side of the mirror is well polished and reflecting, and other side of the mirror is opaque.


Spherical mirrors are of two types:


Concave mirrors
Convex mirrors

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Uses of spherical mirrors : Concave and Convex Mirrors


Concave mirrors:


A concave mirror is used as a reflector in torches, search lights, head lights of motor vehicles etc. to get powerful parallel beam of light.
A concave mirror is used as doctor’s head mirrors to focus light on the body parts like eyes, ears, nose, throat etc., to be examined.
A concave mirror is also used as a shaving mirror/makeup mirror, as it can form erect and magnified image of the face.
The dentists use concave mirror to observe large images of the teeth of the patient.
Large concave mirrors are used to concentrate sunlight to produce heat in solar cookers, solar furnace etc.
Large concave mirrors are also used in reflecting type telescope.

Convex mirror:


A convex mirror is used as a reflector in street lamps. As a result, light from the lamp diverges over a large area.
A convex mirror is used by drivers of automobile as a real view mirror. These mirrors are fitted on the sides of the vehicles enabling the driver to see traffic behind for safe driving. This is because

(i)                A convex mirror produced an erect image of the object.


(ii)             Size of image formed by convex mirror is much smaller than the object.


(iii)           Convex mirrors have a wider field of view as they are curved outwards. Therefore, convex mirrors enable the driver to view much larger area than would be possible with a plane mirror.

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Uses of Spherical Mirrors : Summary


Spherical mirrors can also be used as tricks mirrors to magnify one particular part, and to reduce the other part of an object. You can see a full length image of a tall building in a small convex mirror. One such small convex mirror is fitted in a wall of the Agra fort to observe the full length image of the tall tomb.