History
Prehistory
The first mirrors used by humans were most likely pools of dark, still water, or water collected in a primitive vessel of some sort. The requirements for making a good mirror are a surface with a very high degree of flatness (preferably but not necessarily with highBronze Age to Early Middle Ages
By theMiddle Ages and Renaissance
The evolution of glass mirrors in theIndustrial Revolution
The invention of theContemporary technologies
Mirrors are often produced by the wet deposition of silver, or sometimes nickel or chromium (the latter used most often in automotive mirrors) viaBurning mirrors
TheTypes of mirrors
Mirrors can be classified in many ways; including by shape, support, reflective materials, manufacturing methods, and intended application.By shape
Typical mirror shapes are plane mirror, planar, curved mirror#Convex mirrors, convex, and curved mirror#Concave mirrors, concave. The surface of curved mirrors is often a part of a sphere. Mirrors that are meant to precisely concentrate parallel rays of light into a point are usually made in the shape of a paraboloid of revolution instead; they are used in telescopes (from radio waves to X-rays), in antennas to communicate with broadcast satellites, and in solar furnaces. A segmented mirror, consisting of multiple flat or curved mirrors, properly placed and oriented, may be used instead. Mirrors that are intended to concentrate sunlight onto a long pipe may be a circular cylinder or of a parabolic cylinder.By structural material
The most common structural material for mirrors is glass, due to its transparency, ease of fabrication, rigidity, hardness, and ability to take a smooth finish.Back-silvered mirrors
The most common mirrors consist of a plate of transparent glass, with a thin reflective layer on the back (the side opposite to the incident and reflected light) backed by a coating that protects that layer against abrasion, tarnishing, and corrosion. The glass is usually soda-lime glass, but lead glass may be used for decorative effects, and other transparent materials may be used for specific applications. A plate of transparent plastic may be used instead of glass, for lighter weight or impact resistance. Alternatively, a flexible transparent plastic film may be bonded to the front and/or back surface of the mirror, to prevent injuries in case the mirror is broken. Lettering or decorative designs may be printed on the front face of the glass, or formed on the reflective layer. The front surface may have an anti-reflection coating.Front-silvered mirrors
Mirrors which are reflective on the front surface (the same side of the incident and reflected light) may be made of any rigid material. The supporting material does not necessarily need to be transparent, but telescope mirrors often use glass anyway. Often a protective transparent coating is added on top of the reflecting layer, to protect it against abrasion, tarnishing, and corrosion, or to absorb certain wavelengths.Flexible mirrors
Thin flexible plastic mirrors are sometimes used for safety, since they cannot shatter or produce sharp flakes. Their flatness is achieved by stretching them on a rigid frame. These usually consist of a layer of evaporated aluminum between two thin layers of transparent plastic.By reflective material
In common mirrors, the reflective layer is usually some metal like silver, tin, nickel, or chromium, deposited by a wet process; or aluminium, deposited by sputtering or evaporation in vacuum. The reflective layer may also be made of one or more layers of transparent materials with suitable index of refraction, indices of refraction. The structural material may be a metal, in which case the reflecting layer may be just the surface of the same. Metal concave dishes are often used to reflect infrared light (such as in space heaters) or microwaves (as in satellite TV antennas). Liquid-mirror telescope, Liquid metal telescopes use a surface of liquid metal such as mercury. Mirrors that reflect only part of the light, while transmitting some of the rest, can be made with very thin metal layers or suitable combinations of dielectric layers. They are typically used as beamsplitters. A dichroic mirror, in particular, has surface that reflects certain wavelengths of light, while letting other wavelengths pass through. A cold mirror is a dichroic mirror that efficiently reflects the entire visible light spectrum while transmitting infrared wavelengths. A hot mirror is the opposite: it reflects infrared light while transmitting visible light. Dichroic mirrors are often used as filters to remove undesired components of the light in cameras and measuring instruments. In X-ray optics, X-ray telescopes, the X-rays reflect off a highly precise metal surface at almost grazing angles, and only a small fraction of the rays are reflected. In flying relativistic mirrors conceived for X-ray lasers, the reflecting surface is a spherical shockwave (wake wave) created in a low-density plasma (physics), plasma by a very intense laser-pulse, and moving at an extremely high velocity.Nonlinear optical mirrors
A nonlinear optics#Optical phase conjugation, phase-conjugating mirror uses nonlinear optics to reverse the phase difference between incident beams. Such mirrors may be used, for example, for coherent beam combination. The useful applications are self-guiding of laser beams and correction of atmospheric distortions in imaging systems.Physical principles
When a sufficiently narrow beam of light is reflected at a point of a surface, the surface normal, surface's normal direction will be the bisector of the angle formed by the two beams at that point. That is, the direction vector towards the incident beams's source, the normal vector , and direction vector of the reflected beam will be coplanarity, coplanar, and the angle between and will be equal to the angle of incidence (optics), angle of incidence between and , but of opposite sign. This property can be explained by the physics of an electromagnetic wave, electromagnetic plane wave that is incident to a flat surface that is electrical conductance, electrically conductive or where the speed of light changes abruptly, as between two materials with different indices of refraction. * When parallel (geometry), parallel beams of light are reflected on a plane surface, the reflected rays will be parallel too. * If the reflecting surface is concave, the reflected beams will be Vergence (optics), convergent, at least to some extent and for some distance from the surface. * A convex mirror, on the other hand, will reflect parallel rays towards divergence, divergent directions. More specifically, a concave parabolic mirror (whose surface is a part of a paraboloid of revolution) will reflect rays that are parallel to its surface of revolution, axis into rays that pass through its focus (optics), focus. Conversely, a parabolic concave mirror will reflect any ray that comes from its focus towards a direction parallel to its axis. If a concave mirror surface is a part of a ellipsoid, prolate ellipsoid, it will reflect any ray coming from one focus toward the other focus. A convex parabolic mirror, on the other hand, will reflect rays that are parallel to its axis into rays that seem to emanate from the focus of the surface, behind the mirror. Conversely, it will reflect incoming rays that converge toward that point into rays that are parallel to the axis. A convex mirror that is part of a prolate ellipsoid will reflect rays that converge towards one focus into divergent rays that seem to emanate from the other focus. Spherical mirrors do not reflect parallel rays to rays that converge to or diverge from a single point, or vice versa, due to spherical aberration. However, a spherical mirror whose diameter is sufficiently small compared to the sphere's radius will behave very similarly to a parabolic mirror whose axis goes through the mirror's center and the center of that sphere; so that spherical mirrors can substitute for parabolic ones in many applications. A similar aberration occurs with parabolic mirrors when the incident rays are parallel among themselves but not parallel to the mirror's axis, or are divergent from a point that is not the focus – as when trying to form an image of an objet that is near the mirror or spans a wide angle as seen from it. However, this aberration can be sufficiently small if the object image is sufficiently far from the mirror and spans a sufficiently small angle around its axis.Mirror images
Mirrors reflect an image to the observer. However, unlike a projected image on a screen, an image does not actually exist on the surface of the mirror. For example, when two people look at each other in a mirror, both see different images on the same surface. When the light waves converge through the lens of the eye they interfere with each other to form the image on the surface of the retina, and since both viewers see waves coming from different directions, each sees a different image in the same mirror. Thus, the images observed in a mirror depend upon the angle of the mirror with respect to the eye. The angle between the object and the observer is always twice the angle between the eye and the normal, or the direction perpendicular to the surface. This allows animals with binocular vision to see the reflected image with depth perception and in three dimensions. The mirror forms a ''virtual image'' of whatever is in the opposite angle from the viewer, meaning that objects in the image appear to exist in a direct line of sight—behind the surface of the mirror—at an equal distance from their position in front of the mirror. Objects behind the observer, or between the observer and the mirror, are reflected back to the observer without any actual change in orientation; the light waves are simply reversed in a direction perpendicular to the mirror. However, when viewer is facing the object and the mirror is at an angle between them, the image appears inverted 180° along the direction of the angle.''Mastering Physics for ITT-JEE, Volume 2'' By S. Chand & Co. 2012 Er. Rakesh Rathi Page 273--276 Objects viewed in a (plane) mirror will appear laterally inverted (e.g., if one raises one's right hand, the image's left hand will appear to go up in the mirror), but not vertically inverted (in the image a person's head still appears above their body). However, a mirror does not actually "swap" left and right any more than it swaps top and bottom. A mirror swaps front and back. To be precise, it reverses the object in the direction perpendicular to the mirror surface (the normal), turning the three dimensional image inside out (the way a glove stripped off the hand can be turned inside out, turning a left-hand glove into a right-hand glove or vice versa). When a person raises their left hand, the actual left hand raises in the mirror, but gives the illusion of a right hand raising because the imaginary person in the mirror is literally inside-out, hand and all. If the person stands side-on to a mirror, the mirror really does reverse left and right hands, that is, objects that are physically closer to the mirror always appear closer in the virtual image, and objects farther from the surface always appear symmetrically farther away regardless of angle. Looking at an image of oneself with the front-back axis flipped results in the perception of an image with its left-right axis flipped. When reflected in the mirror, a person's right hand remains directly opposite their real right hand, but it is perceived by the mind as the left hand in the image. When a person looks into a mirror, the image is actually front-back reversed (inside-out), which is an effect similar to the hollow-mask illusion. Notice that a mirror image is fundamentally different from the object (inside-out) and cannot be reproduced by simply rotating the object. An object and its mirror image are said to be chiral. For things that may be considered as two-dimensional objects (like text), front-back reversal cannot usually explain the observed reversal. An image is a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional space, and because it exists in a two-dimensional Focal plane, plane, an image can be viewed from front or back. In the same way that text on a piece of paper appears reversed if held up to a light and viewed from behind, text held facing a mirror will appear reversed, because the image of the text is still facing away from the observer. Another way to understand the reversals observed in images of objects that are effectively two-dimensional is that the inversion of left and right in a mirror is due to the way human beings perceive their surroundings. A person's reflection in a mirror appears to be a real person facing them, but for that person to really face themselves (i.e.: twins) one would have to physically turn and face the other, causing an actual swapping of right and left. A mirror causes an illusion of left-right reversal because left and right were ''not'' swapped when the image appears to have turned around to face the viewer. The viewer's egocentric navigation (left and right with respect to the observer's point of view; i.e.: "my left...") is unconsciously replaced with their allocentric navigation (left and right as it relates another's point of view; "...your right") when processing the virtual image of the apparent person behind the mirror. Likewise, text viewed in a mirror would have to be physically turned around, facing the observer and away from the surface, actually swapping left and right, to be read in the mirror.Optical properties
Reflectivity
The reflectivity of a mirror is determined by the percentage of reflected light per the total of the incident light. The reflectivity may vary with wavelength. All or a portion of the light not reflected is Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorbed by the mirror, while in some cases a portion may also transmit through. Although some small portion of the light will be absorbed by the coating, the reflectivity is usually higher for first-surface mirrors, eliminating both reflection and absorption losses from the substrate. The reflectivity is often determined by the type and thickness of the coating. When the thickness of the coating is sufficient to prevent transmission, all of the losses occur due to absorption. Aluminium is harder, less expensive, and more resistant to tarnishing than silver, and will reflect 85 to 90% of the light in the visible to near-ultraviolet range, but experiences a drop in its reflectance between 800 and 900 nm. Gold is very soft and easily scratched, costly, yet does not tarnish. Gold is greater than 96% reflective to near and far-infrared light between 800 and 12000 nm, but poorly reflects visible light with wavelengths shorter than 600 nm (yellow). Silver is expensive, soft, and quickly tarnishes, but has the highest reflectivity in the visual to near-infrared of any metal. Silver can reflect up to 98 or 99% of light to wavelengths as long as 2000 nm, but loses nearly all reflectivity at wavelengths shorter than 350 nm. Dielectric mirrors can reflect greater than 99.99% of light, but only for a narrow range of wavelengths, ranging from a bandwidth of only 10 nm to as wide as 100 nm for tunable lasers. However, dielectric coatings can also enhance the reflectivity of metallic coatings and protect them from scratching or tarnishing. Dielectric materials are typically very hard and relatively cheap, however the number of coats needed generally makes it an expensive process. In mirrors with low tolerances, the coating thickness may be reduced to save cost, and simply covered with paint to absorb transmission.Surface quality
Surface quality, or surface accuracy, measures the deviations from a perfect, ideal surface shape. Increasing the surface quality reduces distortion, artifacts, and Aberration (optics), aberration in images, and helps increase Coherence (physics), coherence, collimation, and reduce unwanted beam divergence, divergence in beams. For plane mirrors, this is often described in terms of Flatness (manufacturing), flatness, while other surface shapes are compared to an ideal shape. The surface quality is typically measured with items like interferometers or optical flats, and are usually measured in wavelengths of light (λ). These deviations can be much larger or much smaller than the surface roughness. A normal household-mirror made with float glass may have flatness tolerances as low as 9–14λ per inch (25.4 mm), equating to a deviation of 5600 through 8800 nanometers from perfect flatness. Precision ground and polished mirrors intended for lasers or telescopes may have tolerances as high as λ/50 (1/50 of the wavelength of the light, or around 12 nm) across the entire surface. The surface quality can be affected by factors such as temperature changes, internal stress in the substrate, or even bending effects that occur when combining materials with different coefficients of thermal expansion, similar to a bimetallic strip.Surface roughness
Surface roughness describes the texture of the surface, often in terms of the depth of the microscopic scratches left by the polishing operations. Surface roughness determines how much of the reflection is specular and how much diffuses, controlling how sharp or blurry the image will be. For perfectly specular reflection, the surface roughness must be kept smaller than the wavelength of the light. Microwaves, which sometimes have a wavelength greater than an inch (~25 mm) can reflect specularly off a metal screen-door, continental ice-sheets, or desert sand, while visible light, having wavelengths of only a few hundred nanometers (a few hundred-thousandths of an inch), must meet a very smooth surface to produce specular reflection. For wavelengths that are approaching or are even shorter than the Atomic radius, diameter of the atoms, such as X-rays, specular reflection can only be produced by surfaces that are at a grazing incidence from the rays. Surface roughness is typically measured in microns, wavelength, or Sandpaper#Grit size table, grit size, with ~80,000–100,000 grit or ~½λ–¼λ being "optical quality".Transmissivity
Transmissivity is determined by the percentage of light transmitted per the incident light. Transmissivity is usually the same from both first and second surfaces. The combined transmitted and reflected light, subtracted from the incident light, measures the amount absorbed by both the coating and substrate. For transmissive mirrors, such as one-way mirrors, beam splitters, or laser output couplers, the transmissivity of the mirror is an important consideration. The transmissivity of metallic coatings are often determined by their thickness. For precision beam-splitters or output couplers, the thickness of the coating must be kept at very high tolerances to transmit the proper amount of light. For dielectric mirrors, the thickness of the coat must always be kept to high tolerances, but it is often more the number of individual coats that determine the transmissivity. For the substrate, the material used must also have good transmissivity to the chosen wavelengths. Glass is a suitable substrate for most visible-light applications, but other substrates such as zinc selenide or synthetic sapphire may be used for infrared or ultraviolet wavelengths.Wedge
Wedge errors are caused by the deviation of the surfaces from perfect parallelism. An optical wedge is the angle formed between two plane-surfaces (or between the principle planes of curved surfaces) due to manufacturing errors or limitations, causing one edge of the mirror to be slightly thicker than the other. Nearly all mirrors and optics with parallel faces have some slight degree of wedge, which is usually measured in second of arc, seconds or minutes of arc. For first-surface mirrors, wedges can introduce alignment deviations in mounting hardware. For second-surface or transmissive mirrors, wedges can have a prismatic effect on the light, deviating its trajectory or, to a very slight degree, its color, causing chromatic aberration, chromatic and other forms of Optical aberration, aberration. In some instances, a slight wedge is desirable, such as in certain laser systems where stray reflections from the uncoated surface are better dispersed than reflected back through the medium.Surface defects
Surface defects are small-scale, discontinuous imperfections in the surface smoothness. Surface defects are larger (in some cases much larger) than the surface roughness, but only affect small, localized portions of the entire surface. These are typically found as scratches, digs, pits (often from bubbles in the glass), sleeks (scratches from prior, larger grit polishing operations that were not fully removed by subsequent polishing grits), edge chips, or blemishes in the coating. These defects are often an unavoidable side-effect of manufacturing limitations, both in cost and machine precision. If kept low enough, in most applications these defects will rarely have any adverse effect, unless the surface is located at an image plane where they will show up directly. For applications that require extremely low scattering of light, extremely high reflectance, or low absorption due to high energy levels that could destroy the mirror, such as lasers or Fabry-Perot interferometers, the surface defects must be kept to a minimum.Manufacturing
Mirrors are usually manufactured by either polishing a naturally reflective material, such as speculum metal, or by applying a silvering, reflective coating to a suitable polished substrate (materials science), substrate. In some applications, generally those that are cost-sensitive or that require great durability, such as for mounting in a prison cell, mirrors may be made from a single, bulk material such as polished metal. However, metals consist of small crystals (grains) separated by grain boundaries that may prevent the surface from attaining optical smoothness and uniform reflectivity.Coating
Silvering
The coating of glass with a reflective layer of a metal is generally called "silvering", even though the metal may not be silver. Currently the main processes areDielectric coating
Applications requiring higher reflectivity or greater durability, where wide bandwidth (signal processing), bandwidth is not essential, use dielectric mirror, dielectric coatings, which can achieve reflectivities as high as 99.997% over a limited range of wavelengths. Because they are often chemically stable and do not conduct electricity, dielectric coatings are almost always applied by methods of vacuum deposition, and most commonly by evaporation deposition. Because the coatings are usually transparent, absorption losses are negligible. Unlike with metals, the reflectivity of the individual dielectric-coatings is a function of Snell's law known as the Fresnel equations, determined by the difference in refractive index between layers. Therefore, the thickness and index of the coatings can be adjusted to be centered on any wavelength. Vacuum deposition can be achieved in a number of ways, including sputtering, evaporation deposition, arc deposition, reactive-gas deposition, and ion plating, among many others.Shaping and polishing
Tolerances
Mirrors can be manufactured to a wide range of engineering tolerances, includingApplications
Personal grooming
Mirrors are commonly used as aids toSafety and easier viewing
;Convex mirrors :Convex mirrors provide a wider field of view than flat mirrors, and are often used on vehicles, especially large trucks, to minimize Blind spot (automobile) , blind spots. They are sometimes placed at road junctions, and at corners of sites such as parking lots to allow people to see around corners to avoid crashing into other vehicles or shopping carts. They are also sometimes used as part of security systems, so that a single video camera can show more than one angle at a time. Convex mirrors as decoration are used in interior design to provide a predominantly experiential effect. ;Mouth mirrors or "dental mirrors" :Dentists use mouth mirrors or "dental mirrors" to allow indirect vision and lighting within the mouth. Their reflective surfaces may be either flat or curved. Mouth mirrors are also commonly used by mechanics to allow vision in tight spaces and around corners in equipment. ;Rear-view mirrors :Rear-view mirrors are widely used in and on vehicles (such as automobiles, or bicycles), to allow drivers to see other vehicles coming up behind them. On rear-view sunglasses, the left end of the left glass and the right end of the right glass work as mirrors.One-way mirrors and windows
;One-way mirrors :One-way mirrors (also called two-way mirrors) work by overwhelming dim transmitted light with bright reflected light. A true one-way mirror that actually allows light to be transmitted in one direction only without requiring external energy is not possible as it violates the second law of thermodynamics.: ;One-way windows :One-way windows can be made to work with polarized light in the laboratory without violating the second law. This is an apparent paradox that stumped some great physicists, although it does not allow a practical one-way mirror for use in the real world. Faraday isolator , Optical isolators are one-way devices that are commonly used with lasers.Signalling
With the sun as light source, a mirror can be used to signal by variations in the orientation of the mirror. The signal can be used over long distances, possibly up to on a clear day. Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native American tribes and numerous military, militaries used this technique to transmit information between distant outposts. Mirrors can also be used to attract the attention of search-and-rescue parties. Specialized types of mirrors are available and are often included in military survival kits.Technology
Televisions and projectors
Microscopic mirrors are a core element of many of the largest HDTV, high-definition televisions and video projectors. A common technology of this type is Texas Instruments' digital light processing , DLP. A DLP chip is a postage stamp-sized microchip whose surface is an array of millions of microscopic mirrors. The picture is created as the individual mirrors move to either reflect light toward the projection surface (pixel on), or toward a light-absorbing surface (pixel off). Other projection technologies involving mirrors include LCoS. Like a DLP chip, LCoS is a microchip of similar size, but rather than millions of individual mirrors, there is a single mirror that is actively shielded by a liquid crystal matrix with up to millions of pixels. The picture, formed as light, is either reflected toward the projection surface (pixel on), or absorbed by the activated LCD pixels (pixel off). LCoS-based televisions and projectors often use 3 chips, one for each primary color. Large mirrors are used in rear-projection televisions. Light (for example from a DLP as discussed above) is "folded" by one or more mirrors so that the television set is compact.Solar power
Mirrors are integral parts of a solar power plant. The one shown in the adjacent picture uses concentrated solar power from an array of parabolic troughs.Instruments
Telescopes and other precision instruments use ''front silvered'' or first surface mirrors, where the reflecting surface is placed on the front (or first) surface of the glass (this eliminates reflection from glass surface ordinary back mirrors have). Some of them use silver, but most are aluminium, which is more reflective at short wavelengths than silver. All of these coatings are easily damaged and require special handling. They reflect 90% to 95% of the incident light when new. The coatings are typically applied byFace-to-face mirrors
Two or more mirrors aligned exactly parallel and facing each other can give an infinite regress of reflections, called an infinity mirror effect. Some devices use this to generate multiple reflections: * Fabry–Pérot interferometer * Laser (which contains an optical cavity) * 3D Kaleidoscope to concentrate light * momentum-enhanced solar sailMilitary applications
Tradition states that Archimedes used a large array of mirrors to burn Ancient Rome, Roman ships during an attack on Syracuse. This has never been proven or disproved. On the TV show ''MythBusters'', a team from MIT tried to recreate the famous "Archimedes Death Ray". They were unsuccessful at starting a fire on a ship. Previous attempts to set a boat on fire using only the bronze mirrors available in Archimedes' time were unsuccessful, and the time taken to ignite the craft would have made its use impractical, resulting in the ''MythBusters'' team deeming the myth "busted". It was however found that the mirrors made it very difficult for the passengers of the targeted boat to see; such a scenario could have impeded attackers and have provided the origin of the legend. (See solar power tower for a practical use of this technique.)Seasonal lighting
Due to its location in a steep-sided valley, the Italian town of Viganella gets no direct sunlight for seven weeks each winter. In 2006 a €100,000 computer-controlled mirror, 8×5 m, was installed to reflect sunlight into the town's piazza. In early 2007 the similarly situated village of Bondo, Switzerland, was considering applying this solution as well. In 2013, mirrors were installed to reflect sunlight into the town square in the Norwegian town of Rjukan. Mirrors can be used to produce enhanced lighting effects in greenhouses or conservatories.Architecture
Mirrors are a popular design-theme in architecture, particularly with Modern architecture , late modern and Post-modern architecture, post-modernist high-rise buildings in major cities. Early examples include the Campbell Center in Dallas, which opened in 1972, and the John Hancock Tower (completed in 1976) in Boston. More recently, two skyscrapers designed by architect Rafael Viñoly, the Vdara in Las Vegas and 20 Fenchurch Street in London, have experienced unusual problems due to their concave curved-glass exteriors acting as respectively cylindrical and spherical reflectors for sunlight. In 2010, the ''Las Vegas Review Journal'' reported that sunlight reflected off the Vdara's south-facing tower could singe swimmers in the hotel pool, as well as melting plastic cups and shopping bags; employees of the hotel referred to the phenomenon as the "Vdara death ray", aka the "fryscraper." In 2013, sunlight reflecting off 20 Fenchurch Street melted parts of a Jaguar Cars, Jaguar car parked nearby and scorching or igniting the carpet of a nearby barber-shop. This building had been nicknamed the "walkie-talkie" because its shape was supposedly similar to a certain model of two-way radio; but after its tendency to overheat surrounding objects became known, the nickname changed to the "walkie-scorchie".Fine art
Paintings
Painters depicting someone gazing into a mirror often also show the person's reflection. This is a kind of abstraction—in most cases the angle of view is such that the person's reflection should not be visible. Similarly, in movies and Photography, still photography an actor or actress is often shown ostensibly looking at him- or herself in a mirror, and yet the reflection faces the camera. In reality, the actor or actress sees only the camera and its operator in this case, not their own reflection. In the psychology of perception, this is known as the Venus effect. The mirror is the central device in some of the greatest of European paintings: * Édouard Manet's ''A Bar at the Folies-Bergère'' (1882) * Titian's ''Venus effect, Venus with a Mirror'' * Jan van Eyck's ''Arnolfini Portrait'' * Pablo Picasso's ''List of Picasso artworks 1931–1940, Girl before a Mirror'' (1932) * Diego Velázquez's ''Rokeby Venus'' * Diego Velázquez's ''Las Meninas'' (wherein the viewer is both the watcher - of a self-portrait in progress - and the watched) and the many adaptations of that painting in various media * Paolo Veronese, Veronese's ''Venus with a Mirror'' Artists have used mirrors to create works and to hone their craft: * Filippo Brunelleschi discovered linear perspective with the help of the mirror. * Leonardo da Vinci called the mirror the "master of painters". He recommended, "When you wish to see whether your whole picture accords with what you have portrayed from nature take a mirror and reflect the actual object in it. Compare what is reflected with your painting and carefully consider whether both likenesses of the subject correspond, particularly in regard to the mirror." * Many self-portraits are made possible through the use of mirrors, such as great self-portraits by Dürer, Frida Kahlo, Rembrandt, and Van Gogh. M. C. Escher used special shapes of mirrors in order to achieve a much more complete view of his surroundings than by direct observation in ''Hand with Reflecting Sphere'' (1935; also known as ''Self-Portrait in Spherical Mirror''). Mirrors are sometimes necessary to fully appreciate art work: * István Orosz's anamorphosis , anamorphic works are images distorted such that they only become clearly visible when reflected in a suitably shaped and positioned mirror.Sculpture
* Anamorphosis projecting sculpture into mirrors Contemporary anamorphic artist Jonty Hurwitz uses cylindrical mirrors to project distorted sculptures. * Sculptures comprised entirely or in part of mirrors include: ** '':File:Infinity wulsin.jpg, Infinity Also Hurts'', a mirror, glass and silicone sculpture by artist Seth Wulsin ** ''Sky Mirror'', a public art, public sculpture by artist Anish KapoorOther artistic mediums
Some other contemporary artists use mirrors as the List of artistic mediums, material of art: * A Chinese magic mirror is a device in which the face of the bronze mirror projects the same image that was cast on its back. This is due to minute curvatures on its front. * Specular holography uses a large number of curved mirrors embedded in a surface to produce three-dimensional imagery. * Paintings on mirror surfaces (such as silkscreen printed glass mirrors) * Special mirror installations: ** ''Follow Me'' mirror labyrinth by artist, Jeppe Hein (see also, Entertainment: Mirror mazes, below) ** ''Mirror Neon Cube'' by artist, Jeppe HeinReligious function of the real and depicted mirror
In theDecoration
Mirrors are frequently used in interior decoration and as ornaments: * Mirrors, typically large and unframed, are frequently used in interior decoration to create an illusion of space and to amplify the apparent size of a room. They come also framed in a variety of forms, such as the pier glass and the overmantel mirror. * Mirrors are used also in some schools of feng shui, an ancient Culture of China, Chinese practice of placement and arrangement of space to achieve harmony with an environment (disambiguation) , environment. * The softness of old mirrors is sometimes replicated by contemporary artisans for use in interior design. These reproduction antiqued mirrors are works of art and can bring color and texture to an otherwise hard, cold reflective surface. * A decorative reflecting sphere of thin metal-coated glass, working as a reducing wide-angle mirror, is sold as a Christmas ornament called a ''bauble''. * Some pubs and bars hang mirrors depicting the logo of a brand of liquor, beer or drinking establishment.Entertainment
* Illuminated rotating disco balls covered with small mirrors are used to cast moving spots of light around a dance floor. * The house of mirrors, hall of mirrors, commonly found in amusement parks, is an attraction in which a number of distorting mirrors produce unusual reflections of the visitor. * Mirrors are employed in kaleidoscopes, personal entertainment-devices invented in Scotland by Sir David Brewster. * Mirrors are often used in Magic (illusion), magic to create an illusion. One effect is called Pepper's ghost. * Mirror mazes, often found in amusement parks , contain large numbers of mirrors and sheets of glass. The idea is to navigate the disorientating array without bumping into the walls. Mirrors in attractions like this are often made of Plexiglas to prevent breakages.Film and television
Mirrors appear in many movies and TV shows: *''Black Swan (film), Black Swan'' is a psychological horror film that frequently incorporates mirrors. Fractured mirrors are prominent in the film, and the character Nina stabs herself with a broken piece of mirror. * Candyman (1992 film), ''Candyman'' is a horror film about a malevolent spirit summoned by speaking its name in front of a mirror. * ''Conan the Destroyer'' features a mirror-embedded chamber deep within Thoth-Amon's castle. The mirrors are first used in an illusory fashion to deceive Conan the Barbarian, Conan once he is separated by his companions, and during a battle sequence it is discovered that by breaking the mirrors he is able to damage and eventually defeat the otherwise-invulnerable wizard Thoth-Amon. *''Dead of Night'' is an anthology film, anthology horror film with one segment titled "The Haunted Mirror," in which a mirror casts a murderous spell. *''Doctor Strange (2016 film), Doctor Strange'', ''Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness'', and ''Spider-Man: No Way Home'' feature the fictional Mirror Dimension, mirror dimension, a parallel dimension in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Universe that reflects objects like a mirror, but in different directions. *''Enter the Dragons iconic and final fight scene occurs in a mirrored room. The mirrors create multiple reflections of the fight movements but are eventually smashed. *''The Floorwalker'' and ''Duck Soup (1933 film), Duck Soup'' contain a mirror scene in which one person comically pretends to be the mirror reflection of someone else. This mirror scene has been imitated in other comedy films and TV shows. *''Hamlet (1996 film), Hamlet'' has a throne room with mirrored walls. Hamlet, played by Kenneth Branagh, gives his famous speech with the words "to be or not to be," looking into these mirrors. *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film), ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' includes the magical Magical objects in Harry Potter, Mirror of Erised. *''Inception'' contains mirrors created in a dream sequence. Ariadne creates two mirrors facing each other that form an infinite number of reflected mirrors. *''Last Night in Soho'' is a psychological horror movie with several mirror scenes. The character Ellie occasionally sees her mother's ghost in mirrors. *''The Matrix'' uses various reflections and mirrors throughout the film. Neo watches a broken mirror mend itself, and different objects create reflections. * ''Mirror (1975 film), Mirror'' is a drama film by Andrei Tarkovsky that includes several scenes with mirrors and several scenes shot in reflection. *''Mirror Mirror (film), Mirror Mirror'' is a fantasy comedy film based on Snow White that features a Mirror House and Mirror Queen. * Mirrors (2008 film), ''Mirrors'' is a horror film about haunted mirrors that reflect different scenes than those in front of them. *''Persona (1966 film), Persona'' relies on mirror sequences to show how the two women, Bibi and Liv, reflect each other and become more alike. * ''Poltergeist III'' features mirrors that do not reflect reality and which can be used as portals to an afterlife. *''Psycho (1960 film), Psycho'' by Alfred Hitchcock, Alfred Hitchock has several shots with mirrors that reflect characters. * Oculus (film), ''Oculus'' is a horror film about a haunted mirror that causes people to hallucinate and commit acts of violence. *''Orpheus (film), Orpheus'' includes an important theme of mirrors in connection to aging and death. *''Taxi Driver'' has a notable scene with a mirror in which the character Travis, played by Robert De Niro, asks himself the famous line, "You talkin’ to me?" *''The Lady from Shanghai'' has a climatic hall of mirrors scene that has become a Trope (cinema), trope in cinema narratives. *''Raging Bull'' ends with the character Jake talking to himself in a mirror, a scene that was reused in ''Boogie Nights''. *''The Shining (film), The Shining'' is a horror movie that includes several scenes with mirrors. Every time the character Jack encounters a ghost, a mirror is present. * ''The 10th Kingdom'' miniseries requires the characters to use a magic mirror to travel between New York City (the 10th Kingdom) and the Nine Kingdoms of fairy tale. *''The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series), The Twilight Zone'' episode "The Mirror (The Twilight Zone), The Mirror" features a mirror that the character Clemente believes can provide visions and information about enemies. *''Us (2019 film), Us'' is a horror film that includes a girl seeing a doppelgänger of herself in a house of mirrors in a funhouse. The mirror images reflect the similarities in the clones throughout the film. *''Vertigo (film), Vertigo'' includes several appearances of mirrors with both Scottie and Madeleine in the frame.Literature
Mirrors feature in literature: * Christian biblical canons, Christian Bible passages, 1 Corinthians 13:12 ("Through a glass, darkly (phrase), Through a Glass Darkly") and 2 Corinthians 3:18, reference a dim mirror-image or poor mirror-reflection. * Narcissus (mythology), Narcissus of Greek mythology wastes away while gazing, self-admiringly, at his reflection in water. * The Song-dynasty history ''Zizhi Tongjian'' ''Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance'' by Sima Guang is so titled because "mirror" (鑑, jiàn) is used metaphorically in Chinese to refer to gaining insight by reflecting on past experience or history. * In the European fairy tale, ''Snow White'' (collected by the Brothers Grimm in 1812), the evil queen asks, "Magic Mirror (Snow White), Mirror, mirror, on the wall... who's the fairest of them all?" * In the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index tale type ATU 329, "Hiding from the Devil (Princess)", the protagonist must find a way to hide from a princess, who, in many variants, owns a magical mirror that can see the whole world. * In Alfred, Lord Tennyson , Tennyson's famous poem ''The Lady of Shalott'' (1833, revised in 1842), the titular character possesses a mirror that enables her to look out on the people of Camelot, as she is under a curse that prevents her from seeing Camelot directly. * Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale ''The Snow Queen'', features the devil, in a form of an evil troll, who made a magic mirror that distorts the appearance of everything that it reflects. * Lewis Carroll's ''Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There'' (1871) has become one of the best-loved exemplars of the use of mirrors in literature. The text itself utilizes a narrative that mirrors that of its predecessor, ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''. * In Oscar Wilde's novel, ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' (1890), a portrait serves as a magical mirror that reflects the true visage of the perpetually youthful protagonist, as well as the effect on his soul of each sinful act. * W. H. Auden's villanelle "Miranda" repeats the refrain: "My dear one is mine as mirrors are lonely". * The short story ''Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius'' (1940) by Jorge Luis Borges begins with the phrase "I owe the discovery of Uqbar to the conjunction of a mirror and an encyclopedia" and contains other references to mirrors. * ''The Trap'', a short story by H.P. Lovecraft and Henry S. Whitehead, centers around a mirror. "It was on a certain Thursday morning in December that the whole thing began with that unaccountable motion I thought I saw in my antique Copenhagen mirror. Something, it seemed to me, stirred—something reflected in the glass, though I was alone in my quarters." * Magical objects in Harry Potter, Magical objects in the ''Harry Potter'' series (1997–2011) include the Mirror of Erised#The Mirror of Erised , Mirror of Erised and Magical objects in Harry Potter#Two-way mirrors, two-way mirrors. * Under ''Appendix: Variant Planes & Cosmologies'' of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' ''Manual of the Planes#Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition, Manual of the Planes'' (2000), is The Plane of Mirrors (page 204). It describes the Plane of Mirrors as a space existing behind reflective surfaces, and experienced by visitors as a long corridor. The greatest danger to visitors upon entering the plane is the instant creation of a mirror-self with the opposite alignment of the original visitor. * ''The Mirror Thief'', a novel by Martin Seay (2016), includes a fictional account of industrial espionage surrounding mirror-manufacturing in 16th-century Venice. * ''The Reaper's Image'', a short story by Stephen King, concerns a rare Elizabethan mirror that displays the Reaper's image when viewed, which symbolises the death of the viewer. * Kilgore Trout, a protagonist of Kurt Vonnegut's novel ''Breakfast of Champions'', believes that mirrors are windows to other universes, and refers to them as "leaks", a recurring motif in the book. *In ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' by J. R. R. Tolkien, the Mirror of Galadriel allows one to see things of the past, present and possible future. The mirror additionally appears in the The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, movie adaptation.Mirror test
Only a few animal species have been shown to have the ability to recognize themselves in a mirror, most of them mammals. Experiments have found that the following animals can pass the mirror test: * All great apes: ** Humans. Humans tend to fail the mirror test until they are about 18 months old, or what psychoanalysis, psychoanalysts call the "mirror stage". ** Bonobos ** Chimpanzees ** Orangutans ** Gorillas. Initially, it was thought that gorillas did not pass the test, but there are now several well-documented reports of gorillas (such as Koko (gorilla), Koko) passing the test. * Bottlenose dolphins * Orcas * Elephants * European magpiesSee also
* Anish Kapoor (artist working with mirrors) * Aranmula kannadi * Chirality (mathematics) * Corner reflector * Deformable mirror * Digital micromirror device * Heliotrope (instrument) * Honeycomb mirror * List of telescope parts and construction * Mirror armour * Non-reversing mirror * Mirror writing * Mirrors in Mesoamerican culture * Perfect mirror * Periscope * Selfie * Spectrophobia * TLV mirror * Venus effectReferences
Further reading
* ''Le miroir: révélations, science-fiction et fallacies. Essai sur une légende scientifique'', Jurgis Baltrušaitis, Paris, 1978. . * ''On reflection'', Jonathan Miller, National Gallery Publications Limited (1998). . * ''Lo specchio, la strega e il quadrante. Vetrai, orologiai e rappresentazioni del 'principium individuationis' dal Medioevo all'Età moderna'', Francesco Tigani, Roma, 2012. . *Shrum, Rebecca K. 2017.External links
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