What describes a flat mirror that produces an upright, virtual image the same size as the object?

What describes a flat mirror that produces an upright, virtual image the same size as the object?

• A. Plane mirror
• B. Spherical mirror
• C. Convex mirror
• D. Plane (mirror)

Answer: (D)

When light reflects off a flat surface, there is no bending by curvature, so the image forms by the reflected rays appearing to come from behind the mirror. The object and its image are the same distance from the mirror, so the image is the same size as the object. The image is upright because a plane mirror does not invert vertical orientation, though left-right reversal is a perceptual effect. Because the rays don’t actually converge in front of the mirror, the image is virtual. This combination—upright, same size, and virtual behind the mirror—describes a plane mirror.

When light reflects off a flat surface, there is no bending by curvature, so the image forms by the reflected rays appearing to come from behind the mirror. The object and its image are the same distance from the mirror, so the image is the same size as the object. The image is upright because a plane mirror does not invert vertical orientation, though left-right reversal is a perceptual effect. Because the rays don’t actually converge in front of the mirror, the image is virtual. This combination—upright, same size, and virtual behind the mirror—describes a plane mirror.