How Do “Chinese Magic Mirrors” Work?

Ever image what ’s known as a Chinese Magic Mirror ? These mirrors , made of svelte bronze and dating back to the Han Dynasty , have a design on the back . When you shine a light on the front , the front of the mirror projects the image of that design onto a CRT screen . Cool ! But how ?

you’re able to determine these precious little items in charming shops , or in souvenir shops . The first recorded instance of them seems to date back to around 200 BC in China ; sometimes they ’re call “ Japanese Magic Mirrors , ” as many early versions of them have also been unearthed in Japan . Here ’s what befall when mass shine a lightness on the front :

For a foresightful clock time , hoi polloi wondered how the contagion of the design from the back to the front operate . There were cue ; the design vanish when anyone skin the bound of the mirrors off , top some people to think there were some kind of difference in the microstructures of the alloy in the deep or slender piece . Meanwhile , mirror - makers found that if they made a normal mirror was very tenuous , it learn the attribute of a sorcerous mirror . If it were microstructures in the metal , they would have to also appear in chicken feed .

The microstructure melodic theme was dismissed when teams of scientists begin coating the surface of the mirror with ultrathin layers Au , ash grey , or aluminum . If the pattern were the result of microstructures , the design would have vanish , but the mirrors project the design as well as they always did .

The result turned out to be comparatively terrene . Although the surfaces of the mirror are dressed , there are slight convex and concave curves because of the invention . The bulging ( outgoing ) curves scatter luminosity , and make their areas of the reflection darker . The concave 1 rivet light and make their areas of the reflection lighter . The mirror are cast ( pour as liquid state into a mold ) , and the thicker parts and thinner parts cool at different rates . Because metallic element slightly contract bridge as it cool down , the different pace of cool “ accent ” or deform the metallic element a bit .

Thinner country are also more whippy than thicker ones , and so the shining process , which should smoothen metal until its uniform , exaggerates the slight differences in thickness . Although we ca n’t see the slight blueprint on the mirror ’s surface , photons can pick it out very distinctly , so when they are allow to bounce off the curvature of the mirror , a pattern egress .

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