What type of distortion occurs at the edges of a convex mirror?

A convex mirror is designed to reflect light outward, creating a wider field of view. However, this construction can also lead to a type of distortion known as spherical aberration.

Spherical aberration occurs when light rays striking the outer edges of a spherical mirror do not converge at the same point as the rays that strike closer to the center. In the case of a convex mirror, the light rays that reflect off the edges are dispersed more widely than those that hit nearer to the center. This results in images appearing blurry or distorted at the edges compared to the center of the reflection, which is a characteristic of spherical mirrors.

Understanding spherical aberration is crucial as it highlights the limitations of convex mirrors, especially in applications such as vehicle mirrors, where a wider field of view is necessary, but image clarity at the edges can be compromised.