AboutRalph Salier-Hellendag Expertise Science Fair Judge for many years and experience with robotics, biology, chemistry, industrial processes, metalurgy and metal forming.
Experience Science Fair Judge for many years and have helped several students get to state level competition. Most recently 2 of my students received state level awards and one went on to the nationals in Washington DC.
Education/Credentials BA Archaeology - Anthropology
MA Business Anthropology
Question Hi Ralph, I'm asking this question on behalf of my 8-year- old son - am not really able to find suitable material to explain it to him in sufficiently complete, yet kid-friendly terms, myself:
Why is the image reflected by a mirror much sharper and brighter than that reflected by, say, a shiny coloured plexiglass board? It seems to have something to do with light waves being reflected more directly from a mirror as opposed to being diffused by other shiny surfaces...??
Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Maren
Answer Hi Maren,
Good question.
A mirror is made with a very clear, very flat, with no faults - kind of float glass which has been specially prepared to accept a very thin layer of pure silver and then this is painted to seal it and baked to harden the paint. The silver has a very high reflectivity and is used in most applications which require high quality reflections.
Other kinds of surfaces can sometimes have tiny (invisable to the naked eye) faults which then cause distortions when a mirror finish is applied to the surface. These tiny distortions are like the distortions you see in the air on a hot summer day when the air seems to "shimmer". As a result the reflection is not crisp. And as you noted, the light gets reflected in odd directions by these distortions and this results in a "goofy" reflection.
Hope this helps and that it is kid friendly enough. If not, please let me know and I will try again.
