Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Mirrors and Images - Episode 28

Mirrors don't let you see things that aren't there, they let you see things from an entirely different position! Your image in a mirror is what someone else would see if they were standing behind the mirror. It's all a matter of tracing the path of light from your eye to an object, or from the object to your eye.

Science Theater Episode 28:Mirrors and Images

If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to visit my new home page at: www.ScienceTheater.net!

2 comments:

Igor Bogorad said...

The quote "Your image in a mirror is what someone else would see if they were standing behind the mirror." is incorrect.

The best explanation I've heard was from the great Richard Feynman. Listen to this video on Feynman and the mirror

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msN87y-iEx0

Dr. Matt J. Carlson said...

Excellent point. Thanks for bringing it to my attention...

(Technically, I guess someone behind the mirror wouldn't see anything at all since the image is a virtual one.)