A convex mirror, or simply put a curved mirror, is a mirror in which the reflective surface bulges toward the light source. The surface of a curved mirror can be convex, which means bulging outward, or concave, bulging inward. A convex mirror reflects the light outwards and is therefore not used to focus light.
Convex mirrors, or curved mirrors, always form a virtual image because the focus and centre of curvature are imaginary points inside the mirror and cannot be reached. This means that images formed by a convex mirror cannot be projected onto a screen. Also the image is smaller than the object projected, but gets larger as this object approaches the convex mirror.
One of the most common uses for the convex mirror is the passenger-side mirror on your car. These convex mirrors are used for cars because they give an upright image and provide a wider field of view as they are curved outwards. Convex mirrors are also often found in the hallway of various buildings including hospitals, hotels, schools, stores and apartment building.
Usually, these mirrors are mounted to a wall or ceiling at points where hallways cross each other or make a sharp turn. This eliminates blind spots and provides people with a good overview of their surroundings. The convex mirror is also used to provide safety for motorists on roads, driveways and in alleys where there is a lack of visibility.
A convex mirror is also a simple way of improving the safety in your warehouse or production environment. In a work environment or warehouse convex mirrors can be placed at crossings or blind spots to enable workers to see approaching forklifts, other vehicles or approaching colleagues. This provides your employees with the necessary overview of their work environment and therefore increases the safety in your workplace.
Another use of the convex mirror in this work environment is during the production process, such as on the conveyor belt to view your product from different angles. This can increase the quality of your products by becoming aware of any faults in the production and increase the efficiency of the production process by eliminating the necessity to check your products by picking them up from the conveyor belt.
Uses of Convex Mirror
- Convex mirrors are often used in the hallways of buildings including stores, schools, hospitals, hotels and apartment buildings.
- They are used in driveways, roads, and alleys to provide safety to all the bikers and motorists at curves and turns and other places where there is a lack of visibility.
- They are also used in some automated teller machines as a handy security feature that allow user to see what all is happening behind them.
- They are used in passenger side mirror on a car and somewhere it is labelled as “objects in mirror are closer than they appear” to warn the driver.
