For an incident ray directed towards centreof curvature of a spherical mirror, the reflected ray:

Options

A. retraces its path
B. passes through the focus
C. passes through the pole
D. becomes parallel to the principal axis

Answer

To solve the question regarding the behavior of an incident ray directed towards the center of curvature of a spherical mirror, we can follow these steps:

### Step-by-Step Solution:

1. **Understand the Setup**:
- A spherical mirror can be either concave or convex. The center of curvature (C) is the point where the radius of curvature intersects the mirror's surface.

2. **Identify the Incident Ray**:
- The incident ray is directed towards the center of curvature. This means that the ray is traveling straight towards point C.

3. **Reflective Properties of Spherical Mirrors**:
- When a ray of light strikes a spherical mirror, it reflects according to the law of reflection, which states that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.

4. **Behavior of the Ray at Center of Curvature**:
- For both concave and convex mirrors, if an incident ray strikes the mirror at the center of curvature, it will reflect back along the same path. This is because the angle of incidence is zero (the ray is directed straight towards the mirror), resulting in the angle of reflection also being zero.

5. **Conclusion**:
- Therefore, the reflected ray retraces its path back to the source. This means that the correct answer is that the reflected ray retraces its path.

### Final Answer:
The reflected ray retraces its path.