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Mirror and its properties

Blogs > evanthebouncy~
Post a Reply
evanthebouncy!
Profile Blog Joined June 2006
United States12796 Posts
Last Edited: 2007-05-27 14:11:48
May 27 2007 14:07 GMT
#1
Sweet a blog! :D Now I can post w/e crazy stuff instead of in the General Forum :_)

Have you ever wondered why letter W is not inverted by a mirror yet letter B is?

Try it, write "WB" in a piece of paper, bring it to the mirror and read it in the mirror. You will notice that W is not flipped yet B is backwards. Why?

The reason:
+ Show Spoiler +

SPOILER MAZE TIME!
+ Show Spoiler +

Nope!

+ Show Spoiler +

+ Show Spoiler +

Nah not today, maybe some other time...

Mirror only changes direction that is parallel to the normal of its surface.
Let me demostrate with this picture:
[image loading]

In this image, the top arrows, which is parallel to the normal, and perpenticular to the mirror's surface, is perfectly inflected.
The bottom arrows, which is perpenticular to the normal, is not inflected at all.
You can imagine a slanted line, like \\, will be turned into /

If you hold a piece of paper parrallel to the surface of the mirror, none of the paper, nor the letter which is printed on the paper, will be parrallel to the normal vector of the mirror.
See image:
[image loading]

Think of the paper as an infinite set of vectors, each of them perpenticular to the normal.

So now we think to ourselves:
If the mirror only reflects what is parallel to the normal, and the paper hold in front of the mirror has nothing in parallel to the normal, what caused the letters to flip over?

The answer is: whatever caused the letters to flip over is NOT the mirror.

In fact, what made the letters flip over is the way we positioned the paper in front of the mirror.
The case becomes easier to understand if we use a set of transparent papers to show what happens.
See images:
[image loading]


So it is not the mirror that flipped the image, it is entirely depended on the way we flip the paper over.

Here is how you would inverted 2 kinds of letters.
[image loading]

Letter B, which is symmetrical from top to down but not from left to right, will become inverted in mirror if you flip it along a vertical axis, which will switch its left and right.
Letter W, which is symmetrical from left to right but not from up to down, will become inverted in mirror if you flip it along a horizontal axis, which will switch its up and down.



Hopefully that was an interesting brain stimulating read. Cheerios!

-Evanthebouncy



***
Life is run, it is dance, it is fast, passionate and BAM!, you dance and sing and booze while you can for now is the time and time is mine. Smile and laugh when still can for now is the time and soon you die!
FakeSteve[TPR]
Profile Blog Joined July 2003
Valhalla18444 Posts
May 27 2007 14:12 GMT
#2
uh thank you for this look into how a reflective surface works?
Moderatormy tatsu loops r fuckin nice
evanthebouncy!
Profile Blog Joined June 2006
United States12796 Posts
May 27 2007 14:16 GMT
#3
On May 27 2007 23:12 FakeSteve[TPR] wrote:
uh thank you for this look into how a reflective surface works?

np steve :p did you enjoy it?
+ Show Spoiler +

plz humor me and say yes
Life is run, it is dance, it is fast, passionate and BAM!, you dance and sing and booze while you can for now is the time and time is mine. Smile and laugh when still can for now is the time and soon you die!
Pressure
Profile Blog Joined October 2006
7326 Posts
May 27 2007 14:34 GMT
#4
thanks im studying mirrors in science.... hope this helps me
bioboyAT
Profile Joined July 2004
Austria1765 Posts
May 27 2007 18:33 GMT
#5
rofl u r so crazy :D <3
Milchmann | DeadVessel: Milchmann pwns. I fail.
Coagulation
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States9633 Posts
May 27 2007 19:44 GMT
#6
5'd
fanta[Rn]
Profile Blog Joined October 2004
Japan2465 Posts
May 27 2007 20:19 GMT
#7
evan please please let me spend time with you
Cpt Obvious
Profile Blog Joined November 2006
Germany3073 Posts
Last Edited: 2007-05-28 01:11:21
May 27 2007 20:59 GMT
#8
wtf fanta.

pwned
Nobody ever reads signatures of people like me, do they?
fanta[Rn]
Profile Blog Joined October 2004
Japan2465 Posts
May 27 2007 22:40 GMT
#9
yeah dude, totally forms the word eriador -.-
exclusively random individual always delivering original rape
FireBlast!
Profile Blog Joined January 2005
United Kingdom5251 Posts
May 28 2007 11:44 GMT
#10
evan <3
Victoria Concordia Crescit
MuShu
Profile Joined March 2005
United States3223 Posts
May 28 2007 15:29 GMT
#11
Cool, now write one about moose!
micronesia
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States24768 Posts
May 28 2007 16:28 GMT
#12
The images are not working.
ModeratorThere are animal crackers for people and there are people crackers for animals.
evanthebouncy!
Profile Blog Joined June 2006
United States12796 Posts
May 28 2007 17:02 GMT
#13
On May 29 2007 01:28 micronesia wrote:
The images are not working.


Works for me >_<
Life is run, it is dance, it is fast, passionate and BAM!, you dance and sing and booze while you can for now is the time and time is mine. Smile and laugh when still can for now is the time and soon you die!
micronesia
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States24768 Posts
May 28 2007 17:08 GMT
#14
On May 29 2007 02:02 evanthebouncy~ wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 29 2007 01:28 micronesia wrote:
The images are not working.


Works for me >_<


Hm, now they work. I don't think I'm going to bother trying to figure out why.
ModeratorThere are animal crackers for people and there are people crackers for animals.
azndsh
Profile Blog Joined August 2006
United States4447 Posts
June 01 2007 05:05 GMT
#15
lol wtf spoiler maze you're so silly
DaGGer
Profile Joined April 2007
Germany11 Posts
June 04 2007 19:07 GMT
#16
very nice :D
rest_less
Profile Joined January 2007
Germany142 Posts
June 04 2007 19:09 GMT
#17
nice,nice.
Hi lizard.
There is nothing more ridicoulus than "trying".
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