What Colour Is A Mirror?

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What Colour Is A Mirror?

We all know science has its own magic. It tries to solve every question with the most accurate logic. So from this perspective, we often hear what colour is a mirror. The whole concept of the fact may seem so simple but yet paradoxical. You may say the colour of a mirror is obviously silver. Because they seem to portray that colour. 

A perfect mirror basically reflects all colours similarly. It means you can define that mirror as white. But are you certain about what colour is a mirror? A mirror doesn’t reflect colours in the same way a pigment does. A mirror throws back incoming light in a single outgoing direction like a specular reflection, not diffuse, actually. 

The kind of reflection makes an image of the very thing in front of the mirror. But if you observe a spectrum of light very carefully, you will find another thing. Like it reflects the best within the 510-nanometer range, we say it is the green light. So a mirror is a tiny, tiny bit green. But the scientists are still discovering the exact facts about how a mirror works.

What Is A Mirror Actually 

Some may say the mirror is white or but greenish. Well, they may not be completely wrong. When we see an object, what we see is the light emitted from the object. And it enters our eyes. So the object absorbs the light morning, but we do not see it. Like all the colours of a green tree on the visible spectrum have been absorbed except green. The green colour reflects later. If the object is white, all the visible spectrum colours are remembered, and none are absorbed.

But what colour is a mirror actually? So, you may say a mirror is a surface that reflects all the colours of the visible spectrum. Hence, a perfect mirror is technically white. But it’s impossible to make a mirror that reflects 100% of light. The mirror itself may always absorb some light. Hence a perfect mirror does not absorb any light at all. But an ideal mirror does not exist. As some of the energy will get lost in the process. So usually, we see a mirror as a flat surface. The glass in the mirror is probably a float glass.

Float glass is a very common type of glass. As it has a  soda-lime texture, and it gives a little bit of a greenish tint. If you see two mirrors that are in front of each other, you will notice a green hue. So you may think it’s green, actually. Well, not positively. Mirrors are made of mostly silvery elements like aluminum, mercury silvering, or gallium. From door mirrors to car to mirrors in our home will mostly use aluminum. A mirror is just a shiny, actually a shiny metal with a glass on top. It reflects a greenish hue. So a mirror is a well-polished metal surface.

Is Mirror Silver 

If we stare into a mirror for a long time, we may feel like the mirror is silver. It is very common to come out with an answer like this. Well, mirrors are actually supposed to reflect an image. So having their own colour may seem entirely counter-intuitive. Moreover, by looking at a mirror from an angle, you will see something silvery from the side. It means it may give your eyes an impression that the mirror is silver. But it may not be how it seems. Silver mirrors tend to reflect an object’s true colours. Because they try to reflect all wavelengths of light.

On the other hand, you can even silver any substrate except metal. You can even silver wood, glass, plastic, or glazed ceramic. Silver does not make a surface look like a mirror. Moreover, silver mirrors are very easy to make. Silver only needs one sensitizer. It deposits faster than the other metals.

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The Experiment Of What Colour Is A Mirror

Back in Spain in 2004, two famous researchers experimented with science museums. The scientists’ names were Raymond L.Lee and Javier Hernandez -Andres. They used a very popular thing to find out what colour is a mirror. Well, they used mirror tunnels to conduct their experiment. The mirror tunnels are basically contraptions. They contain two mirrors facing each other with two eye holes. They are cut out for the intrigued visitor to peer into. The researchers found something exciting. The mirror’s reflection bounced back and forth more than over 50 times.

Moreover, the wavelength came out like the most predominant. So we see a greenish hue in the mirror. The scientists say the green wavelength can be from 495 to 570 nanometers. But the exact green wavelength we can see at 552 nanometers approximately. The light tends to bounce back and forth from one mirror to the next. So the mirror’s reflective capabilities tend to weaken gradually. Hence by looking at the mirror, the light has been reflected many times before reaching their eyes. We see the greenish hue; that’s why. The two scientists measured several images inside that museum’s mirror tunnel. And they found that at 552 nanometers, we can see the greenish hue correctly. Later they even took measurements from standard mirrors. They found the same result there too.

How Mirrors Actually Work 

 We see our reflection in the mirror. AND, Tend to think about what colour a mirror actually is. We all know mirrors are old, like other things. But we still have questions regarding this. Like how does a mirror work? 

Or what colour is a mirror actually? We say any smooth surface that can bounce backlight. We can use it as a mirror. In the primitive age, people used to use dark pools of still water as a mirror. It could reflect their face at them. Does it mean the smooth surface can reflect images at us? Well, that may not be how it works. But it has to do with the way the light hits a surface. A light shines off an object like our faces and hits a super smooth surface. The rays of light can all bounce back at the same angle. So our eyes tend to perceive this reflected light as a mirror image. It means it looks just like us in a backward way.

On the other hand, the fact about the rough surface is slightly different. Because uneven surfaces tend to bounce backlight at all different angles. So we don’t get any mirror image at all. But that doesn’t mean every smooth surface acts as a mirror. If the smooth surface absorbs the photons instead of going back or bouncing back, there’s no reflection. The very primitive examples of ancient mirrors are more than 8000 years old. The primitive glass was made out of polished volcanic glass. The name of the volcanic glass is obsidian. In 3000 BCE, mirrors were mostly polished copper. 

How Do All Colors Work

When we see different things around us, we see different colours. When do we ask what colour a mirror is? We even say why a particular colour is called that specific colour. The whole concept may seem paradoxical. Well, it is. Like you may ask why the colour blue is blue? When light cannot absorb a specific colour, we tend to see that colour. So the colour of the object depends on that. When visible light hits an object, the visible spectrum tries to absorb all the stains except red. That’s why the blue colour is diffused and scattered in all directions. Hence, from any angle, we will see the red colour. 

But what if the colour is white? Standard white light hits something white. All colours spread like reflection, and nothing is absorbed. So we see the white colour. So you may say a perfect mirror tends to reflect all colours as well. Every colour will reflect. But does that answer that question of what colour is a mirror? Well, not in a proper way. A  mirror reflecting light doesn’t work the same way. It means objects diffusing and scattering light. A mirror tends to reflect light in a single direction only.

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On the other hand, pigment reflects light in every direction. That is why when we look at the mirror from aside and see things at the same angle. We may call it specular reflection. A light hits any red jar; the non-absorbed red light will be reflected and scattered in every direction. We may call it then diffuse reflection.

The Perfect Mirror For What Colour Is A Mirror 

So when we ask ourselves what colour is a mirror, we acknowledge other facts too. Like you may ask does a perfect mirror exist? But the truth is no mirror is ideal at all. It means every mirror has imperfections—That’s why the imperfections tend to cause the mirror to absorb just a little bit of light. By paying close attention to the mirror, you will see a change in the reflection. Light is coming off a mirror, and it reflects white light. Mirrors tend to reflect light within the 510-nanometer range the best. 

And we see it as a green light. So every mirror that we see reflects a bit of greenish hue than any colour. Basically, we see mirrors as the faintest bit of green. We can even prove it by using an experiment of a mirror tunnel. The same image tends to reflect back and forth. But in the process, we may lose a little bit of light. So the greenish tone gets deeper if we get to see them down at the tunnel. The image tends to be dimmer and greener. So a mirror can never be perfect no matter how smoothly we try to create it.

Why Do Mirror Reverse Left And Right 

It’s not true that mirrors reverse left and right only in a proper way. But scientists found out about the fact after several experiments. So we interpret the whole point accordingly. Hence your reflection in the mirror causes the mirror to reverse front to back. Like if you have something on your left side of your face, it will appear accordingly. It means it will appear on the left side of your reflection. But in that case, we tend to perform a rotation in our head. Because we assume that they have turned through 180 degrees to face us. The whole image reflects in the mirror. But it does not rotate. So when we tend to rotate it behind our back, it appears in a reversed way.

It’s always interesting to look at the multiple reflections in lifts, washrooms, and smooth surfaces. They seem to extend into the infinite. But in reality, they tend to progressively darker and fade into invisibility before they get there. Because mirrors tend to absorb a small fraction of the energy of the light. The light tends to strike them each time.

Last Words for what colour is a mirror?

So, we got to know What Color Is A Mirror? actually is. A mirror generally looks silver to us. But it actually absorbs the colour we point it at. On the other hand, a mirror works in a very complicated way. Scientists have always been experimenting with acknowledging the facts correctly. They have been trying to know how it works and what are the functions of the mirror. After years and years, they finally got a proper answer to that. It turned out different than we imagined. Scientists found out that a mirror may look silver because of the shiny silvery element.

 But it’s actually a bit greenish. But can you really be 100% sure what colour is a mirror? We may usually say that a mirror is whatever colour we point it at. Like in a red room, the mirror is red. But if you see yourself in a mirror, it’s you colored. Hence the fact about the mirror is really complicated. But science made it easier to understand it. So try to explore more and more using science.

 

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