Curved Reflections

Horizontal Cylinder

WHAT TO DO

Look into the mirror with the top and bottom squished together (the horizontal cylinder). Get close to the mirror, then go far away, does your reflection change? Play around with the mirror while standing at different distances. Wink your eyes, which eye does your reflection wink? Wave your hand, which hand does your reflection wave?

HOW IT WORKS

Mirrors reflect light. A light wave goes from you to the mirror and then bounces back at you again. The shape of the mirror and the distance you are from the mirror affects the way the light bounces back. Picture a ball being thrown at the mirror (there is a ball/mirror demo called ≥Bounce like Light≤ you can play with to help visualize this!) If the mirror is flat the ball will bounce right back at you. This is the reason why when you blink your right eye at a normal mirror, the reflection will blink its left eye. Now once again picture the ball, except this time throw it at the cylindrical mirror like the one here. In this case the mirror is horizontal, and if you throw a ball (or light) at the top, it will bounce back at the bottom. This is why at a certain distance your image is up-side down.

Remember, the angle at which the light bounces back depends on the distance you are from the mirror.

Source:

http://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/cylindrical_mirror.html

Curved Reflections

Vertical Cylinder

WHAT TO DO

Look into the mirror with the left and right sides squished together (the vertical cylinder). Get close to the mirror, then go far away, does your reflection change at all? Play around with the mirror while standing at different distances. Wink your eyes, which eye does your reflection wink? Wave your hand, which hand does your reflection wave?

HOW IT WORKS

Mirrors reflect light. A light wave goes from you to the mirror and then bounces back at you again. The shape of the mirror and the distance you are from the mirror affects the way the light bounces back. Picture a ball being thrown at the mirror (there is a ball/mirror demo called ≥Bounce like Light≤ you can play with to help visualize this!) If the mirror is flat the ball will bounce right back at you. This is the reason why when you blink your right eye at a normal mirror, the reflection will blink its left eye. Now once again picture the ball, except this time, throw it at the cylindrical mirror like the one here. In this case the mirror is vertical, and if you throw a ball (or light) at the right, it will bounce back at the left. This is why when you blink your right eye, the image blinks its right eye too!

Remember, the angle at which the light bounces back depends on the distance you are from the mirror.

Source:

http://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/cylindrical_mirror.html