Mirror Writing
The fact the mirrors produce writing right-to-left is such a common observation that most people don’t think about it. Below is a picture the back of a newsmagazine taken through a mirror.
Yet if a mirror changes things horizontally, why does it not change things vertically? There is nothing special about a mirror horizontally. The logical conclusion is that it cannot be switching left-to-right either. This is indeed the truth.
So why do we get this effect?
Take a piece of greaseproof or other transparent paper and write “Physics” on it. Here is what it looks like.
Now stand in front of a mirror and turn the paper round to face the mirror, as you might if it were not transparent. This is what you see.
What you see in the mirror is the same as you see through the transparent paper. The mirror has not turned the letters round. You have done this when you turned the paper to face the mirror!
If you turn the paper back so you are looking at the front side, then this is what you see. The mirror shows the front side also. Remember this paper is transparent.
People also ask: “Is how I see myself in a mirror how others see me”? The answer is no. You have turned round to face the mirror so you are seeing things the wrong way round. You can easily check this. Take a selfie then look in a camera directly whilst also looking in a mirror. The photo – how other people see you – is different from what you see on the camera. To know how other people see you, you must take a picture.
If, of course, if you turn the camera also to face the mirror and look at it through the mirror it will also be reversed.
You may have noticed that some emergency vehicles have “Ambulance” (or whatever they are) written in mirror writing on the front of the vehicle. This means that when driving and you look in your mirror the writing appears the correct way round.
Just a further fact about mirrors: When you are looking at your image in a mirror that image is as far behind the mirror as you are in front. It is as if you were looking, without a mirror, at your identical twin that far away.