and Bounce Light> Light rays can be reflected, bent, focused, or scattered. But that’s not always a bad thing. Changing the path of light changes the images we see. And a changed image can sometimes be a better image. Here are a few examples.
The side mirror of a car is convex (bulging out), like the back of a spoon. It shows a wide view of an area, such as a big truck driving up behind you. Don’t be fooled: In a convex mirror, the truck looks smaller than it really is. It’s a lot closer than it appears!
A reflecting telescope reflects starlight off a concave mirror. The mirror gathers and focuses the light to a central spot, so the weak light from the star is bright enough to see.
A refracting telescope uses convex lenses to do the same job. Like a concave mirror, a convex lens focuses light to a central point. Look at a distant object like a mountain and it will make it look much bigger and closer that it is.
A flashlight uses a concave mirror to make it’s beam stronger and straighter than it would be if there were just a bulb. The light bulb is located at the “focus point” - the point where the parallel rays all converge when they hit a concave mirror. But the light from the bulb travels “backwards” along this path, so that after bouncing off the mirror, they all head out in the same direction.
