what is that weird “mirror” like effect on top of asphalt when it gets hot? What’s the science behind it?
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The “mirror” effect is called a mirage. Light from a distant object that is moving towards the hot ground halfway between you and the object will bend up as it moves through the less dense hot air. When that light strikes your eyes you see an inverted image on the ground in between you and the object. Unlike a mirror image, this image shifts because hot air rises and the bending angles aren’t quite constant. In nature we also see shifting images on the ground when there is water on the ground. Our brain interprets the shifting image as “the ground over there must be wet”. This can lead people to chase non existent distant water when lost in the dessert.
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