b3ta.com board
You are not logged in. Login or Signup
Home » Messageboard » Message 1463205 (Thread)

# I know why things look back to front in a mirror!
But why don't they look top to bottom as well
(btb01 Laughing on Judgement Day, Thu 26 Jun 2003, 11:17, archived)
# because of the angle
of the light hitting the mirror
(I helped save b3ta! JustHere4Coffee remembers when all o' this were car parks, Thu 26 Jun 2003, 11:19, archived)
# I'm not a scientist...
.. but I know that's bollocks
(btb01 Laughing on Judgement Day, Thu 26 Jun 2003, 11:20, archived)
#
www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/cylindrical_mirror.html
(I helped save b3ta! rogan, Thu 26 Jun 2003, 11:27, archived)
# oooh
clever :)
(I helped save b3ta! kitty meow meow, Thu 26 Jun 2003, 11:29, archived)
# Nice
I like
(btb01 Laughing on Judgement Day, Thu 26 Jun 2003, 11:30, archived)
# that
and the focal length of the mirror :)
(I helped save b3ta! kitty meow meow, Thu 26 Jun 2003, 11:23, archived)
# just think about it
if you understand why they're left to right, then you know why they aren't top to bottom.

:)

It's because you've reversed yourself to it in that horizontal direction, but not the vertical one :)
(I helped save b3ta! kitty meow meow, Thu 26 Jun 2003, 11:21, archived)
# Stand on a mirror
0r look at the mirror attached to your ceiling, if you're that sort of a person. You'll find that top and bottom are reversed - your head is below your feet. It's all to do with the angle that you're looking from.
(I helped save b3ta! ALargeElk, Thu 26 Jun 2003, 11:31, archived)
# Think about a telescope -
you have to have at least two lenses for the light to bounce off to turn it upside down.

Do I even know what I'm talking about?
(Amerella, Thu 26 Jun 2003, 11:22, archived)
# lenses are funny things
and work slightly differently from mirrors.

backwards from them, in fact :)
(I helped save b3ta! kitty meow meow, Thu 26 Jun 2003, 11:24, archived)
# Actually I've got it ..
it's to do with the plane the mirror is in - ie on a wall it reverses in the horizontal plane... lay it on the floor and it reverses in the vertical plane - which is why mountains look upside down when you see them reflected in a lake. That is all. Thank you.
(btb01 Laughing on Judgement Day, Thu 26 Jun 2003, 11:33, archived)