As we know that a virtual image is always erect then why do we see a virtual inverted image in the concave side of a spoon.
[Physics] Why do we see virtually inverted image on concave side of spoon
everyday-lifeopticsreflectionvisible-light
Related Solutions
We see an inverted image in a spoon when kept far from our face with concave side towards our face. It is because our face is outside the focal legth of the conave side of the spoon.
We see a virtual inverted image whereas in case of concave mirror we can see a virtual image which is erect. This is because when the object is between pole and focus the we get erect enlarged image.
I tried to get a virtual image with a spoon, but I couldn't get even after bringing it too close to my face, this is probably because the focal length of the spoon was too small.
@HarnoorSingh Yes the virtual image of the nail is formed when close to the mirror it is because the nail is between the pole and the focus of the font side (concave) of the spoon, resulting in the formation of virtual image on the spoon. This situation is depicted by the second diagram.
Note the focal length of the spoon will be only a few centimetres if that.
If you can get close enough so that your face is closer than the focal length of the spoon then you would see a magnified and upright image which is virtual.
This is the arrangement used for a shaving or make up mirror but they have larger focal lengths.
However you are more likely to be seeing a diminished and inverted image which is real and located between your face and the spoon.
Your face will be greater than two focal length from the spoon.
The real image appears to be in the vicinity of the spoon but you can located by using the no-parallax method as described here for a concave mirror and for a convex lens here which can be adapted for the spoon.
Such attempts at the location of the real image will be more difficult because of the aberrations caused by the non-spherical shape of the spoon.
I have used the images from this website.
Best Answer
The problem is that the image you obtain from a concave mirror you obtain a real image, and not a virtual one.
To understand why the real image coming from the reflection in a spoon is inverted, you have to consider the ideal case of a concave mirror, in particular (for the sake of simplicity) a spherical one.
Suppose that the object you are observing, for example yourself, is the big green arrow. You can draw three different rays starting from the tip of the arrow:
Starting from the ray passing through the center $C$, you can see that it will imping perpendicularly on the surface of the mirror, thus being reflected along the same ray.
The ray passing through the focus $F$ will be reflected, by definition, parallely to the optical axis.
The ray impinging parallely to the optical axis will be reflected in the direction passing through the focal point $F$.
You obtain, therefore, an image that is exactly the small light green tip in figure. The important point, that addresses your question, is that this image is not a virtual image: it is a real image, since it is placed in the plane of convergence of the rays, thus it can be inverted. On the contrary, virtual images, that are formed when the rays outgoing from an optical device always diverge, will always be erected.
The last point to be addressed is how this image can be seen. The rays, after having converged again on the tip of the small light green arrow, diverges and they move toward the observer. It will be, therefore, the eyes of the observer that will take these diverging rays, will focus them on the retina and will show to the observer the image of the little arrow. In this specific case, the face of the observer is the big green arrow (even though in principle it is much farther from the center C than what is represented in this figure), the little arrow is the inverted image of yourself that you see in the spoon