By definition, all mirrors use specular (regular) reflection. For all cases of specular reflection, the mirror images can be constructed via ray tracing techniques.
The figure on the left shows the ray tracing diagram for the plane mirror. We place an object, O (we will always use an orange arrow), in front of a mirror. The distance p between the object and the mirror is called the object distance.
In the figure we show the construction of the image of the tip of the arrow. The arrow sends light rays off radially in all directions. Some of these get reflected by the mirror into the eye of the observer. To the observer, it looks like these rays originate from the image, I (red arrow), located at the image distance, q, behind the mirror: virtual image. From the figure we see that:
Construction of all image points shows that the image has the same size as the object and is upright.
© MultiMedia Physics 2000