REFLECTION AT A

SPHERICAL SURFACE
Figure 1.1 Reflection at a spherical surface
 

We consider first term only and write:

and .

Now as we know:

“Exterior angle of a triangle is equal to the sum of its two opposite interior
angles”.

So from triangle OPC:

And from triangle OPI:

Substituting value of in equation (2) gives:

 Using the small-angle approximation, so we will neglect the axial distance
VQ.
So, for and

Where ,
So,

An  ,
putting these values in eq(3) gives,

Cancelling “h” :

General mirror equation is given by:

Sign Convention:
 The object distance “s” is positive when “O” is to the left of “V”,
corresponding to a real object. When “O” is to the right , corresponding to a
virtual object, “s” is negative.
 The image distance s’ is positive when “I “ is to the left of “V”,
corresponding to a real image, and negative when I is to the right of V,
corresponding to a virtual image.
 3. The radius of curvature “R” is positive when “C” is to the right of “V”,
corresponding to a convex mirror, and negative when “C” is to the left of
“V”, corresponding to a concave mirror.
Magnification of a mirror image:

Figure 1.2 Construction to determine magnification (c) of a spherical mirror

The magnification—ratio of image height hi to object height ho—can be

determined. Since angles θi , θr , and α are equal, it follows that triangles VOP
and VIP′ are similar. Thus, the sides of the two triangles are proportional.
We can right:

This gives at once the magnification m to be:

 When the sign convention is taken into account, one has, for the general
case, a single equation, Equation (6), valid for both convex and concave
  mirrors

 If, after calculation, the value of m is positive, the image is erect. If the value
is negative, the image is inverted.
 Now we can use mirror formulas in equation (5) and (6), and the sign
convention, to locate an image and determine its size.