What Are Mirrors Used For?

Aside from evaluating your personal appearance, of course…

As a parent of 3, every day is a school day.  In that, I mean that I literally learn something from them every day, usually by being involved in their homework projects.  My most recent challenge was to come up with different uses for mirrors, sounds simple enough.  Well, all I can say is, thank heavens for Google, my saviour!

I was going great guns with the mirror in my handbag for applying my lipstick, the illuminated mirror in my bathroom and the rear view mirror and wing mirrors on the car, and then things started to slow down.  So, just in case you ever come across this homework project or if you are generally interested in mirrors, here are some of their other uses.

Cameras
A mirror and prism system is used by a single lens reflex camera.  It allows the photographer to look down the lens and see exactly what will be captured.

Telescopes
Telescopes use a concave mirror, as an alternative to a convex objective lens, to gather the rays from the object being studied.  This then forms an image at the point of focus.

Dental Mirrors
Small mirrored instruments are used in dentistry for various reasons;  to reflect light onto the tooth that is being treated, to give a good view of the inside of the mouth and to examine the teeth for cavities and tissue disorders.

Funhouse Mirrors
These types of mirrors are found at attractions such as carnivals and fairgrounds.  The mirrors are bent leaving concave and convex areas which give a distorted reflection.  These mirrors are also known as distorting mirrors or carnival mirrors.

Disco Ball
Also know as a mirror or glitter ball, this ball is used to produce a light display.  Its surface is made up of thousands of tiny mirrored pieces which reflect the light directed at the ball into lots of different directions with sparkly,  glittery results.

Torches
A torch bulb is placed in the centre of a concave mirror in a torch to direct the light rays.

Solar power
Mirrors are used in solar power technologies to focus the sun’s light energy and transfer it into heat.  The heat then creates steam to drive a turbine which in turn produces electricity.

Mechanics
Mechanics often use mirrored tools, that are usually on a long arm, to see into hard to reach places on vehicles.

Hairdressers
Well, hairdressers goes without saying.  You’re simply surrounded by mirrors when you enter a hair salon.  They even use one to show the back of your head.

So, tell me – what homework projects have you been involved in?  Have you encountered the mirror project yet?  Let me know in the comments.

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