Mirrors for the Masses

Mirrors are common, ordinary glass devices that are used and taken for granted by most people in the world. A mirror, by definition, is an object that reflects light in a way that preserves the properties of the light in reflection after contact with the mirror. While mirrors are considered unremarkable today and taken for granted, that was not always the case.

 

Long regarded as enablers for Narcissistic, self-admiring people, mirrors were once available only to the very rich and to the nobility. The method for making plate glass mirrors was perfected on the island of Murano in Venice, Italy in the 16th century. The back was covered in mercury and produced a near perfect reflection. These mirrors were placed in rich, elegant frames and used to decorate the royal palaces of Europe.

The Venetian monopoly of the plate glass process lasted for about one hundred years. In an early case of industrial espionage, the secret process was stolen and plate glass mirrors were being produced on an industrial scale in London and Paris by the 17th century.  

Thanks to industrial spies in the 17th century, mirrors were made affordable for common people. Various other metals were later used for backing mirrors and made mirrors even less expensive. Now mirrors serve a multitude of purposes from store security, grooming aids, and interior design to capturing light in reflecting telescopes.

Hubble Space Telescope

  

Two Way Mirrors

!. How are mirrors used in high tech products.

2. How do you use mirrors daily.

3. How might we use mirrors in the future?

4. Why do some mirrors make you look fat? *

5. How do some mirrors make objects look far away?

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror

http://www.euroglas.com/en/euroglas.html