Where Will the Image Be Formed with Light Rays Perpendicular to a Plane Mirror?

[navneet9431]

Suppose light rays from an object fall perpendicular to the surface of the plane mirror.
Will the image be formed at +infinity(a virtual image) or -infinity(a real image)?

I will be thankful for help!

 

[.Scott]

In your diagram, the virtual image will be at $+ \infty$ (plus infinity).
There will also be a real image at $- \infty$ (minus infinity).

However, these terms (real and virtual image) are normally used with images that converge without going to infinity.

Normally, a plano mirror will only yield a virtual image - one that appears behind the mirror.
But in your drawing, you are showing the image originating from minus infinity - which is a special case.

 

[sophiecentaur]

But in your drawing, you are showing the image originating from minus infinity - which is a special case.

That's by treating the plane mirror as the limiting case a concave mirror with radius approaching infinity, I think. For a concave mirror with finite radius, there is an object distance where the image position hops from - to + ∞ (and for many other optical arrangements).
Hyperphysics has some good diagrams of what happens with concave mirrors - just extend the idea to a mirror with infinite r.