How do effing mirrors work?

[disappoint]

This is different than the last thread.

The last thread is about why mirrors reverse an image.

This thread asks...why do mirrors reflect anything at all?


Now, a mirror is presumably just a very flat sheet of highly polished metal.

The metal has on the surface electrons on the outer shell of the metal's atoms. I can see why negatively charged particles would bounce off this surface as electrons are negatively charged and would bounce other negatively charged particles off of it, but why photons?

Photons have zero charge, otherwise we would be able to bend photons with an electric field.

So why do photons bounce off of mirrors? Or any surface for that matter?

 

[phucheneh]

...why does light reflect off of anything?

It's the same principle as any thing that you can see, isn't it? The light reflecting off of you and everything around you bounces off the mirror, which absorbs none of it; bam, you see your reflection. I think?

How does electrical charge come into play?

 

[SandEagle]

'effing' mirrors are usually installed on the ceiling

 

[TecHNooB]

http://xkcd.com/1146/

 

[disappoint]

...why does light reflect off of anything?

It's the same principle as any thing that you can see, isn't it? The light reflecting off of you and everything around you bounces off the mirror, which absorbs none of it; bam, you see your reflection. I think?

How does electrical charge come into play?

Well, say you have an electron and a positron. They have opposite charge. If you fire them at each other and cause a head on collision, as they do in particle accelerators, the two hit each other and annihilate each other, the product of which is heat and light. They don't bounce off each other. If you fire electrons at electrons they bounce off each other because they have the same charge. Like charges repel, opposites attract. But photons are not charged, they have a neutral charge. So why are they repelled off of a surface of electrons?

edit: Also 2 photons don't bounce off of each other. Because they are not charged particles, they are just pure energy. They can occupy the same space at the same time. Charged particles with mass can't do that.

'effing' mirrors are usually installed on the ceiling

lol true, but it doesn't answer the question.

 

[Theb]

Magnets.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Absolutely sure it has something to do with electrons.

 

[disappoint]

http://xkcd.com/1146/

You can inline those you know. Like this:

Only that one isn't the same one as yours. It's different. Dare to be different.

 

[SparkyJJO]

 

[NFS4]

How do effing mirrors work?

 

[jupiter57]

Home schooling FAIL.

 

[phucheneh]

Well, say you have an electron and a positron. They have opposite charge. If you fire them at each other and cause a head on collision, as they do in particle accelerators, the two hit each other and annihilate each other, the product of which is heat and light. They don't bounce off each other. If you fire electrons at electrons they bounce off each other because they have the same charge. Like charges repel, opposites attract. But photons are not charged, they have a neutral charge. So why are they repelled off of a surface of electrons?

edit: Also 2 photons don't bounce off of each other. Because they are not charged particles, they are just pure energy. They can occupy the same space at the same time. Charged particles with mass can't do that.

You're...thinking too hard?:\

Light hits shit. Light bounces off other shit. The same light can hit multiple shits. Anything that is visible...is reflecting visible light.

 

[Anubis]

just replace magnets with mirrors and watch this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMFPe-DwULM

 

[BoomerD]

How do they work?

Pretty damned well, if you ask me. :biggrin:

 

[tcG]

Reflectivity is just a "brute property" of polished metal.

^ My guess.

 

[Ghiedo27]

IIRC, photons do not bounce. They hit an object and bump electrons up to a higher energy state. When the electrons drop back down to their normal state, they give off a brand new photon. What angle they're launched at is a whole other thing / bag of worms.

Conductors have free electrons that do a good job of recreating the incident photon. Most "regular" stuff also absorbs and emits energy from photons, but the electrons are bound more tightly to the specific energy levels of that material.

That's why objects have color. Their valance electrons can only and emit photons of a particular energy. Energy determines the frequency and we see different frequencies as different colors.

At least that's how I remember it

 

[disappoint]

IIRC, photons do not bounce. They hit an object and bump electrons up to a higher energy state. When the electrons drop back down to their normal state, they give off a brand new photon. What angle they're launched at is a whole other thing / bag of worms.

Conductors have free electrons that do a good job of recreating the incident photon. Most "regular" stuff also absorbs and emits energy from photons, but the electrons are bound more tightly to the specific energy levels of that material.

That's why objects have color. Their valance electrons can only and emit photons of a particular energy. Energy determines the frequency and we see different frequencies as different colors.

At least that's how I remember it

Winner. Thank You. You sir have won the thread and all of the requisite benefits have been bestowed to you forthwith.:thumbsup:

 

[disappoint]

You're...thinking too hard?:\

Light hits shit. Light bounces off other shit. The same light can hit multiple shits. Anything that is visible...is reflecting visible light.

It doesn't bounce. It can't bounce. It only seems like it does. Neat huh?

And all this time you thought the reality you experience everyday is so simple. But there is really more to it than meets the eye. (pun not intended, but still punny! hehe)

Mind blown? No? There's a lot more where that came from. But that's probably enough for today.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Mirrors are some witchcraft of a nanotechnology. They are very tiny screens with built in cameras that display what the camera sees. They all work together as one to produce a large high resolution image of what is in front of it. It is believed this technology also records our every move and was initially developed by communist governments.

 

[disappoint]

Mirrors are some witchcraft of a nanotechnology. They are very tiny screens with built in cameras that display what the camera sees. They all work together as one to produce a large high resolution image of what is in front of it. It is believed this technology also records our every move and was initially developed by communist governments.

Tablets would make better mirrors than mirrors do. A tablet could display it's front facing camera's image on it's screen by "mirroring" the image, making what you see the same as what other people see and not the mirror image you are accustomed to seeing when you look at yourself in the mirror.

They just need better resolution, white balance, color rendition, refresh rate etc.

 

[clamum]

:awe:

 

[momeNt]

You'd have to ask the mirror gnomes, and they don't just give out the secret to anybody asks, it usually involves a lot of highly deviate sexual acts with these gnomes.

 

[BladeVenom]

Magic.

 

[diesbudt]

You'd have to ask the mirror gnomes, and they don't just give out the secret to anybody asks, it usually involves a lot of highly deviate sexual acts with these gnomes.

Brothers to the keebler cookie elves, and cousins to the garden gnomes.

 

[CPA]

'effing' mirrors are usually installed on the ceiling

I would give this a "like" if i could.