eli5: What is the difference between a mirror and a white object?

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I mean, what does a white object do? Absorbs nothing, reflects all light back.

What does a mirror do? Absorbs nothing, reflects all light back.

Having the same characteristics, how does a mirror reflect an image and a white object, a white texture?

In: Physics

18 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s about angle of reflection. “White” things scatter the light. Reflective things bounce light ray or photon back towards the source, the more reflective, the more of them / more accurately. That’s why very reflective things are also usually super smooth, and have relatively high density of the material.

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