Why is it that when you look up close in a mirror, you can see objects that are on the same plane as the mirror, but aren’t within the range of the mirror’s reflection?

Question

Title might be a bit messily worded here so allow me to elaborate:

Let’s say you have a mirror on the wall and a painting on the same wall that’s some distance away.

Why is it that if you press your face up close to it and look to the side, you can see the painting in the mirror despite the painting being far away and not even on the opposite wall, where it would normally be reflected? How does the mirror know that the painting, as well as everything else on the wall, is there?

In: 0

Answer 1

Mirrors don’t know anything – all they do is reflect light. They’re reflecting almost all the light in every direction it’s coming from. In this case, it’s reflecting at an angle close to 180, like always, and you’re positioning your eyes in such a way to see that light