Ridged mirror

A ridged mirror is a special type of mirror that has lines or grooves on its surface. These lines are called ridges and they help the mirror to reflect light in a different way than a regular flat mirror.

Think of a smooth mirror like a calm lake on a sunny day. When you look at it, you can see a perfect reflection of yourself or anything else that's in front of it. But when you throw a stone into the lake, it creates ripples and the reflection gets distorted.

Now imagine a ridged mirror like a bumpy road. When light shines on the ridges, it bounces off in many different directions, causing the reflection to look distorted or wavy.

Scientists and engineers use ridged mirrors to study things like sound waves, light waves, and even the shape of the universe. By carefully analyzing how the ridges in the mirror affect the way light reflects, they can gather information that's impossible to observe with a regular flat mirror.

So, in short, a ridged mirror looks different from a regular flat mirror and can do special things that help scientists learn about the world around us.