Question

A pencil is placed in front of a convex mirror of focal length 15 cm. The distance between the mirror and the pencil is 25 cm. Determine the position of the image of the pencil.

Answer 1

This means the image is formed 9.38 cm behind the mirror. The negative sign indicates that the image is virtual and located behind the mirror. Please Check the explanation below.

Step-by-step explanation:

The mirror formula for a convex mirror is given by:

1/f = 1/v + 1/u

where:

f = focal length of the mirror,

v = image distance, and

u = object distance.

For a convex mirror, the focal length (f) is taken as negative. So, f = -15 cm.

The object distance (u) is also negative for a real object. So, u = -25 cm.

Substituting these values into the mirror formula, we get:

1/-15 = 1/v + 1/-25

Solving this equation for v (the image distance), we get:

v = -9.38 cm

This means the image is formed 9.38 cm behind the mirror. The negative sign indicates that the image is virtual and located behind the mirror.