Question

You want to create a spotlight that will shine a bright beam of light with all of the light rays parallel to each other. You have a large concave spherical mirror and a small lightbulb. Where should you place the lightbulb?

a. at the point, because all rays bouncing off the mirror will be parallel.
b. at the focal point of the mirror
c. at the radius of curvature of the mirror
d. none of the above, you cant make parallel rays wilth a concave mirror

Answer 1

Step-by-step explanation:

Concave mirrors is otherwise known as converging mirrors: These are mirrors that are caved inwards (reflecting surface is on the outside curved part). It is called a converging mirror due to the fact that light converges to a point when it strikes and reflects from the surface of the mirror. This type of mirror is used to focus light; parallel rays that are directed towards it will be concentrated to a point.

For a concave mirror to reflect light with properties that are the same as a spotlight (directed light rays parallel to each other), one has to consider its property to gather light to a point after reflecting. Meaning that, we can achieve the spotlight by locatng the point where the rays will be parallel, this point is called the focal point.

Therefore, the light bulb should be placed at the focal point of the mirror.