How does a mirror reflect your image back at you?
Light's Neat Trick
How does a mirror reflect your image back at you?
Every morning you walk up to a flat sheet of glass, and there you are — same nose, same wild hair, waving back. It feels like a tiny twin lives inside the wall. But there's no twin. What you're really seeing is a clever trick played by light. Let's follow the light and catch the trick in the act.
First, a secret: you don't actually see things. You see the light that bounces off them. The sun or a lamp throws light everywhere. That light lands on your face, your shirt, the cat — and scatters off in all directions, like a thousand tiny balls thrown off a bumpy wall. Some of those light-balls fly into your eyes, and that's how you see anything at all.
