Can you find the light?

Can You find the Light?

For my Demo, I am doing a Concave mirror experiment.

Materials:

For my experiment, you'll need:

• A Concave mirror (including its stand)

• A square cardboard box (with an opening on one side)

• Two light sockets (one will go on top of the box while the other goes underneath; it should include an electrical cord)

• A light bulb

• A chair

• A table

Instructions:

For the experiment, set up your concave mirror (on its stand) 3 feet in front of your box on a table. Make sure you screw in the two light sockets onto the box; one on the very top and one inside the opening upside down. Screw in the light bulb into the bottom light socket, and place the chair in front of the table. Then, turn on the electrical cord for the light socket underneath the box. You should now notice a light appear in the concave mirror. Modify the placements of the mirror, box, and chair until it appears as if the reflection of the light bulb underneath the box is projecting itself to appear as if it is in the light socket on the top of the box.

Principal:

The reflected light bulb is not a natural light bulb. Rather, it is an image of another light bulb that is located underneath the box. The backside of the wooden box is open, and thus, light from that light bulb hits the mirror, reflects off of the mirror, and projects and creates an image. That image is called a "Real Image." It's as if the image is really there.

The principal behind all of this is that the light bulb that is behind the wooden box is placed at the center of curvature on the principal axis of the mirror.

Thus projecting a real image at the center of curvature, but on the other side of the principal axis making it appear as if there really is a light bulb on the box.