In a concave mirror, how does the distortion of images behave toward the edges of the mirror?

In a concave mirror, the distortion of images tends to increase toward the edges due to a phenomenon known as spherical aberration. This occurs because the mirror is shaped like a portion of a sphere, which means that light rays reflecting off the edges do not converge at the same focal point as those reflecting from the center.

As a result, light rays that strike the more peripheral areas of the mirror undergo differing angles of incidence and reflection compared to rays striking near the center. This discrepancy leads to less accurate and more distorted images when viewed from the outer regions of the concave mirror. Consequently, images appear less clear and more distorted as you move towards the edges, which is why the correct answer is that images become more distorted toward the edges.

Other responses do not accurately capture this aspect of concave mirrors. For example, images do not become clearer, nor do they remain unaffected by the edges. Rather, the edges are where you start to notice significant distortion, confirming why the third option accurately reflects the behavior of images in this type of optical system.