The mirrors we go across to see how we look when we wake up in the morning are with us at every stage of our lives. Have you ever thought about what color the mirror is? The mirror reflects the image in front of it, but it must also have a color.
Many people will say that the mirror is white or silver in color, but the mirror is actually a different color. Today, we will explain to you what color this object is, together with the working logic of the mirror.
First, let’s get to know the colors. How are colors formed?
To understand how a mirror works, we first need to understand colors. Every object has a color because the light reflected by hitting them reaches our retina. This color, which reaches our retina, is interpreted by our brain and creates the colors we see.
First of all, white light, which is daylight, hits all the colorful objects. In this light, the wavelengths of the visible spectrum are of equal intensity. Objects that we see in color absorb some of these wavelengths and reflect others. The colors we know emerge according to the absorption and reflection rate of these wavelengths. If an object absorbs all visible wavelengths, it is black, and if it reflects all, it is white.
Now that we know colors, let’s get back to our topic: What color is the mirror actually?
In fact, the light hitting a perfect mirror is reflected back into space with the angle of reflection of the angle it came from. Since all of the incident light is directly reflected back, the color of the mirror also becomes white, which contains all wavelengths in the visible spectrum. However, this is what we call a perfect mirror, and there is no such mirror in the world.
There is no perfect mirror in the world. For this reason, saying that the color of the mirror is “white” is not a very realistic scenario. Most mirrors reflect green more than any other color. Mirror atoms have a layer of silica glass that reflects green wavelengths more than other colors, according to ZME Science. Physicists found that mirrors reflect a wavelength between 495 and 570 nanometers. This range also corresponds to a light green image.
You can see this color by placing two mirrors opposite each other.
When you put the two mirrors face to face, you must have seen that it turns into a paradox and goes into an endless darkness. This image created by the mirror actually shows us the green very clearly. At first, the image starts with a faint green tone, and as it gets smaller and smaller, it turns into a much more precise shade of green.
Today we explained to you what color a mirror actually is. If you want more content like this, you can share it with us in the comments section.
- Source: USA Today, Science Focus, ZME Science, Live Science