Why do mirrors flip things horizontally but not vertically? | James May Q&A | Head Squeeze

A mirror is made from a sheet of glass with reflective material applied to one side of the glass. Designed to reflect lights, mirrors are used everywhere from making sure we scrub behind out ears in the morning, to helping us reverse around corners without crashing into a wall.

But what are mirrors exactly?

A mirror is like an old fashioned transparency photograph viewed the wrong way around. A mirror doesn't reverse left and right, it reverses back to front. Writing appears back to front in a mirror because we present it back to front!

Go on; have a go writing BUM the wrong way around in front of a mirror!

Wondered where the glass in the mirror comes from? Check out James' vid on whether glass is really made from sand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L74RJQKzpNU&list=PLMrtJn-MOYmfqNgyPxx6NYMZnd25y4shc&index=68

Or did you wake up this morning and wonder why there was a scruffy beardy bloke staring back at you? Greg Foot has a great vid on why men have facial hair http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewwpkDghTeQ&list=PLMrtJn-MOYmcMLEnLKQjjxJqled29hSLB&index=6

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