Why do mirrors reverse right and left instead of up and down?

arach

New member
Re: Question of the day (July 3)

Because the light is reflected back to you in a specific angle. When you stand in front of the mirror, the light from your head e.g. isn't twisted around, it's simply reflected back to where it came from. Your eye doesn't know about the reflection, it "thinks" that the light path is straight. It makes up an imaginary picture of you "behind" the mirror, although the light was sent out from you and not from behind the mirror.

This may help:
explrefs.gif


The light would have to be twisted around for having an upside-down picture:

reflection.GIF

That's just not how it works, because the light is sent out straight into every direction from where it came from. But it works if you have a parabolic mirror, like when you look into a spoon, you may see yourself upside down. Reason is simply that the parabolic form causes the light beams to be reflected differently (not in the same angle).
 
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