• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 04:50
CET 10:50
KST 18:50
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Clem wins HomeStory Cup 284HomeStory Cup 28 - Info & Preview13Rongyi Cup S3 - Preview & Info3herO wins SC2 All-Star Invitational14SC2 All-Star Invitational: Tournament Preview5
Community News
Weekly Cups (Jan 26-Feb 1): herO, Clem, ByuN, Classic win2RSL Season 4 announced for March-April7Weekly Cups (Jan 19-25): Bunny, Trigger, MaxPax win3Weekly Cups (Jan 12-18): herO, MaxPax, Solar win0BSL Season 2025 - Full Overview and Conclusion8
StarCraft 2
General
Clem wins HomeStory Cup 28 HomeStory Cup 28 - Info & Preview Stellar Fest "01" Jersey Charity Auction StarCraft 2 Not at the Esports World Cup 2026 Weekly Cups (Jan 26-Feb 1): herO, Clem, ByuN, Classic win
Tourneys
HomeStory Cup 28 $5,000 WardiTV Winter Championship 2026 RSL Season 4 announced for March-April PIG STY FESTIVAL 7.0! (19 Feb - 1 Mar) StarCraft Evolution League (SC Evo Biweekly)
Strategy
Custom Maps
[A] Starcraft Sound Mod
External Content
Mutation # 511 Temple of Rebirth The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 510 Safety Violation Mutation # 509 Doomsday Report
Brood War
General
[ASL21] Potential Map Candidates Can someone share very abbreviated BW cliffnotes? 2024 BoxeR's birthday message Liquipedia.net NEEDS editors for Brood War BSL Season 21 - Complete Results
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 1 Small VOD Thread 2.0 KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Strategy
Zealot bombing is no longer popular? Simple Questions, Simple Answers Current Meta Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2
Other Games
General Games
Diablo 2 thread Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread EVE Corporation Nintendo Switch Thread Path of Exile
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI Russo-Ukrainian War Thread YouTube Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine
Fan Clubs
The herO Fan Club! The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Quickbooks Payroll Service Official Guide Quickbooks Customer Service Official Guide
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Play, Watch, Drink: Esports …
TrAiDoS
My 2025 Magic: The Gathering…
DARKING
Life Update and thoughts.
FuDDx
How do archons sleep?
8882
James Bond movies ranking - pa…
Topin
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1255 users

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
Austria1763 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 States24753 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 States24753 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".
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 7h 10m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
ProTech129
mouzHeroMarine 22
StarCraft: Brood War
GuemChi 1272
Hyuk 879
Jaedong 305
Rain 246
Leta 191
Shuttle 141
EffOrt 121
Larva 108
Light 96
Mong 79
[ Show more ]
ToSsGirL 50
ZerO 49
Shinee 40
Backho 40
Sharp 38
Mind 29
GoRush 27
Bale 17
zelot 15
Rush 13
Sacsri 13
Movie 13
ggaemo 4
Britney 0
Dota 2
XaKoH 635
Fuzer 146
NeuroSwarm101
XcaliburYe40
febbydoto10
League of Legends
JimRising 497
C9.Mang0299
Counter-Strike
shoxiejesuss735
allub338
zeus246
Other Games
gofns12100
Happy297
Mew2King119
KnowMe41
ZerO(Twitch)9
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick982
BasetradeTV214
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH185
• LUISG 30
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• iopq 5
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• lizZardDota222
League of Legends
• Jankos1330
Upcoming Events
Big Brain Bouts
7h 10m
goblin vs Kelazhur
TriGGeR vs Krystianer
Replay Cast
14h 10m
RongYI Cup
1d 1h
herO vs Maru
Replay Cast
1d 14h
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
Wardi Open
3 days
Monday Night Weeklies
3 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
3 days
The PondCast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-02-04
HSC XXVIII
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

CSL 2025 WINTER (S19)
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Acropolis #4 - TS4
Escore Tournament S1: W7
Rongyi Cup S3
Nations Cup 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S1: W8
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
RSL Revival: Season 4
WardiTV Winter 2026
LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals
FISSURE Playground #3
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League Season 23
ESL Pro League Season 23
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.