Why does a mirage reflect the ground and area in front of it? E.G a car traveling on the highway where you can see the reflection on the road.
In: Physics
Light Rays speed up as they move through air at higher temperatures. This happens naturally as light enters the atmosphere.
As a light ray approaches a hot road at an angle, the bottom of the Ray speeds up first causing it to bend upwards. At hot enough temperatures, like those above an ashphalt road in the summer, it bends up very sharply. This results in you seeing light Rays that never touched the ground.
There is another time that light curves upwards sharply too. When it hits a reflection, like a puddle of water. Because the two are visually identical, your brain assumes they are both puddles.
BUT, because the mirage light bends at a very specific angle, it disappears as you get closer (as your angle to the mirage changes), unlike a reflection. On a perfectly flat road, this would result in a mirage that seemed to stay at a fixed distance from you, like a rainbow.
https://www.scienceabc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Mirage-diagram.jpg
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