Optics+Lesson+3

The location of an object in front of a mirror is related to the "virtual location" of the "virtual object" that is behind the looking glass. Does it make sense to you to think of a world behind the looking glass? Physicists call the images you see in a flat mirror "virtual images". Since your eye has to focus on them to see them clearly, we can talk about the location of the virtual image, and then we can come up with a distance that the image appears to be coming from.

The activity GeoOp3, found in the courses folder, gives you a chance to practice a technique called "ray tracing". This technique allows you to use both eyes to gain depth perception, in other words, to know where to focus your eyes to see something clearly. When you focus on a mirror image, you do the same thing.

When you are done with this activity, you should be able to accurately describe the virtual location of images in a flat mirror!