I know that most of the objects around us, like tables, doors etc reflect irregularly and do not form an image. I know that to form a real image, a lot of reflected rays must converge, and this is not possible for diffused or irregular reflection. But my question is: Why do these opaque objects that reflect irregularly not form a virtual image?
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$\begingroup$ A virtual image of what, of the light bulb? $\endgroup$– safesphereCommented Oct 22, 2017 at 6:58
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$\begingroup$ A virtual image of objects $\endgroup$– Ayushi BansalCommented Oct 22, 2017 at 7:03
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$\begingroup$ Like a door forming a virtual image of a table? $\endgroup$– safesphereCommented Oct 22, 2017 at 7:08
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$\begingroup$ Lenses form images (both virtual and real) as a certain proportion of all rays emanating from a diffuse but specific point in space are captured by the lens and focused to another very specific point in the image plane, there are many focused points in the image plane that make an image. (assumes the original object has features and is also in a plane). $\endgroup$– PhysicsDaveCommented May 24, 2019 at 2:18
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1 Answer
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When an image is formed by a lens or a mirror, ray bundles which originate from a single point on the objective (and thus are 'related' to each other in that sense) are focused back into a point in the image plane.
A diffuser, by definition, scatters the light rays in a random manner, thus the rays are no longer related to each other, that is to say, no longer form a bundle, and thus cannot be focused into a point in the image plane.
