IF A MIRROR REVERSES L WITH R, WHY DOES DO YOU SEE YOURSELF THE RIGHT WAY UP?
jeremy...@ukonline.co.uk
With thanks.
JBCooper3
effect); it reverses FRONT to BACK. The way I learned to think about it is
to look at how you'd get a mirror image from a Halloween mask - you's push
it inside out. It's still correct in it's up-down orientation, but the
left-right orientation has been reversed.
John Cooper
Huntsville, AL
chistopher willard
: A mirror doesn't reverse left and right. Look in the mirror and wave your
: right hand. Which side is it on?
: Mark Folsom
The original question, as to L-R rather than up/down is due to the
left-right orientation of your eyes.
JBCooper3
:The original question, as to L-R rather than up/down is due to the
Does that mean that if you close one eye, it will reverse up-down also?
:-) John
FolsomMan
>:-) John
No, it does that when you tilt your head to one side. Don't you know
anything?
Mark Folsom
Gerard de Wit
What if you close one eye?
Gerard
Jeff
(FolsomMan) wrote:
> jbco...@aol.com (JBCooper3) wrote:
>
> > wil...@soho.ios.com (chistopher willard) wrote
> >:The original question, as to L-R rather than up/down is due to the
> >:left-right orientation of your eyes.
>
> >Does that mean that if you close one eye, it will reverse up-down also?
>
> >:-) John
>
> No, it does that when you tilt your head to one side. Don't you know
> anything?
>
> Mark Folsom
For an interesting twist on this (way too often) repeated subject, try
this little experiment:
take a moderate sized mirror, such as a makeup mirror or such, and lay it
flat on a table. Now, look into the mirror so that you can see the wall -
gee, now it's upside down! Try explaining that with the good old (and
incorrect) L-R eye explanation.
Jeff.
Marcus H. Mendenhall
once a week, since that is about how often this thread is revived,
with the same question.
I have seen so many silly answers in so many supposedly learned forums
to this question that it is amazing! After careful observation in a mirror,
and some thinking, one can quickly understand this.
When you stand in a mirror, it is front vs. back that is reversed.
Suppose, for example, you stand in a mirror such that you are facing
North and are perpendicular to the mirror. Now, point North. Your
reflection points south. Point east; your reflection points east.
Point up; your reflection points up. Thus, the only actual reversal is
perpendicular to the mirror (i.e. front and back in relative coordinates).
Now, a critical point about right and left: the meaning of these is
coordinate-system dependant, and if you reflect any single coordinate,
you change the definition of right-handed and left-handed, as this is used
to describe a coordinate system or the helicity of the thread on a screw
(for examples).
What you see in a mirror, then, is not a reversal of right vs. left,
but front vs. back. You see your face as it would appear to someone
looking from behind you (if they could could see through you). The same is
true of writing in a book. If you read writing through the page (from the wrong
side), you will see exactly the same thing you see in a mirror. Of course,
if you really pay attention, if you are reading a book in a mirror, you are
holding the book backwards, so of course the writing should appear backwards!
Marcus Mendenhall
jeremy...@ukonline.co.uk
FolsomMan
>So why is writing reversed?
Because you turn it around to see it in the mirror. If you write it on a
transparency and look at it so you can read it forward and then hold it
with that orientation in front of a mirror, it will not be reversed in the
mirror.
Mark Folsom
Professional Mechanical Engineer
Matthias Gross
>
> : The original question, as to L-R rather than up/down is due to the
> : left-right orientation of your eyes.
>
>
> Gerard
The mirror reverses not left with right but forward with backward!
The brain makes the rest because of the lr-symmetry of your body, so
it works well with only one eye open.
Matthias