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Report a Problem. Cancel Submit Report. You Might Also Like. Stepping up to this reflective, warped wall of wonders, you instantly laugh at the reflection presented before your eyes.
Just like seeing your reflection in a standard mirror on the wall, a funhouse is virtually a standard mirror with some curves and indentations within it. Although this seems simple enough, there is a difference between the two types of mirrors: concave and convex.
The simple nature behind this stretched appearance is the way the mirror is shaped. When your eyes hit the mirror, the light will emit the elongated shape. In other words, the incident and reflected ray make a perfectly symmetrical V shape, with the normal as the line of symmetry. Mirrors reflect almost all of the light hitting their surface. In addition, they have a very smooth surface and are usually flat, causing light to reflect in an orderly way, reflecting a good but "mirror image" of objects.
This results in a neat image on the retina and thus a clearly reconstructed picture. Shiny surfaces that are not perfectly smooth can lead to blurry or fuzzy pictures.
Mirrors make it possible to see a picture of yourself or of objects that are behind you. But do they always give an accurate representation of how you or the objects behind you look? Try the activity to see how mirrors can fool you! Observations and Results Did you see distorted reflections in the curved mirrors?
Light rays that shine off a point on an object travel in all directions. Those reaching the mirror bounce back like a ball would bounce on a smooth surface. Some will travel into the eye. The location where these reflected light rays or their extensions meet is where the brain thinks the object is, so that is where the object appears to be when you see it in the mirror. For the flat mirror, the skewers, which represent the normal to the surface, are parallel to each other.
This creates reflected rays that meet at a point behind the mirror so the image appears at the other side of the mirror. For a flat mirror, the reflection is the same size and appears at the same distance from the mirror as the actual object. For a convex mirror the skewers pointed outward.
In this case light rays bounce the same way with respect to the normal but because the skewers point away from each other, the rays seem to spread out more compared to the ones reflecting on a flat mirror. These rays also meet at a point behind the mirror, but not as far behind it as the flat mirror. An object reflected in a convex mirror appears closer to the mirror and smaller than it really is.
For a concave mirror the skewers point toward each other, and the reflected light rays spread out less. The reflection of an object close to the mirror is bigger and looks farther away. If the skewers were long enough, they would have met at a point before the mirror. Move the object closer to the point where the skewers meet, and the reflected rays will spread out less. As a result the object will seem bigger and farther away. The reflection gets so big that your mirror probably only covers a fraction of it.
Once you cross the point where the skewers meet, something strange happens: you see the object inverted! The right and left sides if your mirror is in landscape orientation or top and bottom if you hold the mirror in portrait orientation of the image are switched! This happens because the light rays meet before the mirror, so a light ray that starts at the right or the top will reflect back toward the left or the bottom. The inside of the spoon is curved in the horizontal and vertical direction, so right and left sides and top and bottom of the image are switched.
This activity brought to you in partnership with Science Buddies. Already a subscriber? Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. See Subscription Options. Go Paperless with Digital. Key Concepts Physics Optics Light Reflection Introduction Have you ever visited a house of mirrors and seen a wacky-looking version of yourself?
Materials Mirroring paper, available from a craft or paper supply store. New, unwrinkled aluminum foil can be used, but because the images are fuzzier, the observations will not be as clear.
Old flip-flop that can be damaged. If unavailable, use an old insole or thick cardboard. Two skewers Small colorful objects, such as figurines, small toys, a battery, an eraser, etc.
If you are using aluminum foil, it is helpful to choose brightly colored objects. Stainless steel spoon, as new as possible optional Glue optional Stainless steel cups, pots, ladles, etc. Lay the flip-flop on the table in landscape orientation so that the long side is parallel to the side of the table , sole side up.
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