Question

If you raise your right hand in front of a plane mirror, what will you see in it?
A. You have raised your right hand
B. You have raised your left hand
C. You have lowered your right hand
D. You have lowered your left hand

Answer 1

Light undergoes many phenomena such as reflection, refraction, lateral inversion, etc. when it strikes a plane mirror. But it’s a matter of question which phenomena is answerable for the interchanging of left and right sides of an object during a plane mirror. For that, it’s required to know the proper definitions of each of the terms and hence apply the definition to answer the question.

Complete step by step answer:
When a beam of light falls on any surface, some part of light comes back to the identical medium which is referred to as reflection. Few amounts of light pass through the surface which is termed transmission. A little amount of light is going to be absorbed by the surface. This phenomenon is understood as absorption. Here we’ll target the reflection part. It’s just like once you throw a ball on the wall, after hitting the wall it comes back. In the same way light also comes back to the identical medium after hitting on any surface. This bombarding back of the light is termed as reflection. We are ready to see all the objects around us as well because of the reflected light which reaches our eyes. Reflection occurs on any surface, but only during a few cases, we are ready to see the image.
If you stand in front of the dressing mirror, you will be able to see your own image, but when you stand in front of a rough wall, you will not be able to see your own image. Allow us to analyze which factor is responsible for image formation, within the case of a mirror, the surface is smooth. Hence, we are able to see the image. But we can’t see the image on the wall because it includes a rough surface.
To answer the given question, we should know the nature of image formation. We are able to observe that the size of the image formed behind the mirror is exactly the same as the object; the object distance is up to the image distance. When you raise your right hand you feel like you raised your right hand. i.e. the image is laterally inverted. Now, we have analyzed the nature of image formation within plane mirrors. Just imagine, this is your real image or virtual image. First, we should understand the difference between real and virtual images. Within the case of a plane mirror, the image is created behind the mirror which we can’t catch on the screen. These types of images are referred to as virtual images. We can only see the virtual image, but it’s impractical to touch it. If the image is caught on the screen, then it’s a real image.
In the case of a plane mirror, the images formed are behind the mirror and it’s virtual. We conclude that just in the case of a plane mirror, it’s not possible to get a real image.

So, the correct answer is “Option B”.

Note: Whenever we see images formed behind the mirror, it’s always virtual. When the incident rays meet after reflection then it’s a real image. If they’re not actually meeting after reflection but appear to be meeting after reflection then it’s a virtual image.