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| Nature of the Image Formed by a Plane Reflecting Surface |
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| An image can be real or virtual. A real image is formed when the rays of light actually intersect after reflection. A virtual image is formed when the light rays after reflection do not actually intersect but appear to diverge from it (these rays of light intersect when produced backwards). |
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| Virtual Image Formed by a Plane Mirror |
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| In fig (i) we can see that the light beam from the point source O is a diverging beam. After reflection from the mirror it is still a diverging beam, which appears to come from I. The image formed by a plane mirror is virtual. |
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