Curved mirrors come in two basic types: those that converge parallel incident rays of light and those that diverge them. Spherical mirrors are a common type. Use ray diagrams and the mirror equation to calculate the properties of an image in a spherical mirror. The image in a plane mirror has the same size as the object, is upright, and is the same distance behind the mirror as the object is in front of the mirror. "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" We've all heard this dialogue from Snowwhite and the seven dwarfs. But what kind of mirror was it? What were the properties that enabled these spherical mirrors to be so special? Well, let us find answers to it in this section. Curved Mirrors We can define two general types of spherical mirrors. If the reflecting surface is the outer side of the sphere, the mirror is called a convex mirror. If the inside surface is the reflecting surface, it is called a concave mirror. Symmetry is one of the major hallmarks of many optical devices, including mirrors and lenses.
