Why is it that objects touching the mirror seem that the mirrored object and the real on are touching each other, while things like dirt and dust always have a gap between them?
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The gap is always there; it is just very easy to see the gap when the item is very small, like dust particles, and you can easily see around all sides of the dust particle. The gap is there because a mirror is just a piece of glass with a coating of reflective material on the backside of the glass. The gap you can easily see when you look at dust on the mirror is just the actual thickness of the glass.
If you hold a larger object against the mirror and then look closely from a side angle at the point of contact, you are still able to see the gap. It is always there, as that gap is made up of the glass’ own thickness. Hope that makes sense.
There’s always a gap between objects and their reflection with regular mirrors due to the thickness of the glass pane. If you’re standing in front of a mirror and there’s no gap, it’s one-way-glass.
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