A 4.5 cm needle is placed 12 cm away from a convex mirror of focal length 15 cm. Give the location of the image and the magnification. Describe what happens as the needle is moved farther from the mirror.
Given,
Size of the needle, h = 4.5 cm
Object distance, u = – 12 cm
Focal length of the convex mirror, f = 15 cm
The image distance can be obtained using the mirror equation,
Where,
f is the focal length
u is object distance and
v is the image distance
⇒
⇒
⇒
⇒ v = 6.67 cm
Therefore, the image of the needle is 6.67 cm away
from the mirror.
The magnification is given by
Where,
m is the magnification
h’ is the height of the image
h is the height of the object
v is the image distance
u is the object distance
Using the equation, we get,
⇒
⇒ h' = + 2.5 cm
⇒
⇒ m = 0.56
∴ Magnification is 0.56. And, the height of the image is 2.5 cm. The image is virtual.
If the needle is moved farther from the mirror the image will also move farther away. The size of the image will also decrease gradually.