A Wonderleaf question
How do mirrors work?
a real page from the book
Mirrors work because light hits a very smooth, shiny metal layer behind the glass and bounces back in an orderly way. Light from your face reaches the mirror, reflects toward your eyes, and your brain uses those returning rays to build the image you recognize.
The person you seem to see inside the wall is not really there. Your brain follows the reflected light backward and guesses a straight path, so the image appears behind the glass. A curved mirror changes those paths, which is why fairground mirrors can stretch or squash a face.
Wonder words
- reflection
- angle
- aluminum
- illusion
Try it out
Stand with a spoon, a window, and a mirror, then compare how your face changes in each reflection.
Read the whole picture book
Watercolour scenes, straight answers, about three minutes cover to cover.
Open the picture bookKeep wondering
- How do lenses in glasses and telescopes bend light to help us see?
- How does a magnifying glass make things bigger?
- What makes a rainbow?
And the next question?
Ask anything — Wonderleaf writes and illustrates a picture book for it. That's the whole idea.
Ask your own question