If mirage's are not real, then why do you see reflection?.......?
471363
A hologram is a 3d image of an object.  If you look at one you may try to reach out and touch it but nothing is there.\n\nWe don't actually see objects, we see the light that is reflected from them.  If that light is bent somehow the image will change and the appearance of the object will be different than the case of no interference.  We try to extrapolate what was actually there based on the light that reaches our eyes (and the extrapolation is distorted if the light gets bent).\n\nIn short, the mirage is a real image, but it is not a real object.
1116528
mirage. \nair in contact with the hot road is less dense. the light coming from above (denser/cooler air) gets reflected. As a result a 'mirror' is formed on the road n u c reflection of sky on the road. this looks like water.
134618
I depends what you mean by real?  Yes, they really are tricks.  They trick your mind to think you are seeing something different than it really is.\n\nWhen you see something "disappear" it doesn't really disappear into thin air.  You are tricked to believe you saw it disappear, but really it was simply concealed by some "magic" trick.  They all use different ways to conceal the REAL action.\n\nWhen someone is suspended in mid air, there is a hidden, concealed way to do it.  All magic tricks work by natural, but hidden means.  The better the magican, the better hidden it is.
1030622
If you look at a painting from 3 inches away, it will be clear, but a mirror is not in fact a flat image like a painting.  The light in the mirror comes from the surroundings, so, depending on the distance between an object and the mirror, the light travels different distances.  Try standing in front of the mirror and covering one eye-- what you see, in the mirror or not, will be flat.  Uncover the eye and you will have depth perception even when you look in the mirror.
730887
I have a pair of those interesting deep-dish-shaped double-domed parabolic mirrors from Edmund Scientific, the top one sits upside-down on the bottom one, and the top one has a hole in it.  So when you put something inside it, and move away at an angle, an image of the object appears to be sitting above the top dish.  I ask people, "Hand me that little pink pig sitting on that dish".  They see it, reach for it, pick up nothing, reach for it again, and see their fingers apparently pass right through a solid object.\n\nWhat is the reality there?  My eyes tell me there's a little pink plastic pig sitting on the top of that dish.  Yet when I try to pick it up, my fingers pass right through it.  But then I distort the mirrors a little, and the pig blurs in an odd way that lets me see that he's actually a reflected image from inside the unit.  And if I understand optics sufficiently, I understand that it is possible, with certain arrangments of parabolic mirrors, to erect "real" images (versus the more common "virtual" images that we see in most mirrors and lens) of objects, and even design and build versions of my own, with the effects and capabilities fully determinable in advance.  That's reality.\n\nReality does exist.  Granted, we have a limited and distorted view of it due to the limitations of our senses, but it does exist.  For example, this desk in front of me seems like a solid object.  But in truth, my view of it is limited by the fact that my eyes are not able to resolve the electrons orbiting the nuclei that make up the desk, and that the vast majority of this desk is vacuum, therefore the fact that, when I touch this supposedly-solid desk, what's actually happening is that the electrostatic field generated by the electrons of the desk are exerting a force against the electrostatic field of the electrons orbiting the nuclei of the atoms making up my fingers.  There are no "solids" touching anything, just fields pushing against each other the way 2 magnets can push against each other.\n\nTo me it looks like reality begins immediately outside your eyes.  All is reality.  The only place it ends is inside your head, when you misinterpret what your limited senses tell you.
565258
A mirror reflects light.  Light from an object strikes the mirror and changes direction so that the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection.  As a result, light appears to come from behind the mirror, at an apparent distance equal to the distance they are in front of the mirror.\n\nI see no connection to the Boognish.
1075742
i saw many good answers to this question but none of them address your question from a theoretical standpoint.\n\n1. the question of whether "something" ( or any physical entity ) casts a shadow is irrelevant to us being able to "see" the shadow  or the entity ( which is what many of the other questions address ).\n\n2.  therefore, consider a single atom or molecule.  it "exists" in space ( but is invisible ) and when it is subject to light ( a stream of photons ), it WILL alter their paths. ( no question )\n\n3.  a shadow is defined as a variation in the intensity of light cast by an object.  any alteration from the original pattern of photons caused by these atoms CAN be measured ( on a surface or other medium ( film etc ))\n\n4. this ALTERATION is a shadow in essence.  \n\n5. whether or not the object or the shadow is visible to the naked eye is NOT the issue.  ( people with poor vision cant see many things and microscopes ( as well as other instruments ) enable us to see many other things.)  \n\n5.  the FACT is that any material entity ( i.e atom or collection of atoms ) alters light and its trajectory whether we see it or not with our own eyes.\n\nthe answer to your question is that every "something" ( that you call it ) ALWAYS has a shadow because it EXISTS ( irrelevant to it being invisible or not due the technology ( cloak ) you spoke about ).  its just a matter of measuring the "subtle" shadows with the relevant instruments.
688926
I've seen things that can't be explained within reason.  I don't know if ghosts exists, no one does.  Everything else is just an opinion.
963682
*It allows a laser to be viewed - light from the laser cannot be viewed unless it's bouncing off a mirror - a mirror reflects and refracts light\n\n*Allows us to view things from a variety of angles (car mirrors, periscopes, etc)\n\n*Personal hygeine?\n\n*Decorative
1137480
Can someone explain to me the satisfaction gained in "proving" what is known to be untrue and can only be "proved" by disguising the deception involved. Is it the appeal of "Magic" conjuring tricks? \n\nDividing by zero is simply a sleight of hand which any half-educated person knows is not a legitimate move you can make. So all such "proofs" are at pains to disguise that is what they are doing. And once spotted, are revealed to be a hollow sham.\n\nTHIS DOESN'T SEEM A USEFUL WAY FOR ANYONE TO SPEND THEIR TIME, TO ME!
8264
It's because of the minor imperfections in the placement of the mirrors. Also, because the effect can't be seen without seeing it at an angle, it causes a curve based on your viewpoint.
368951
Same phenomenon happens when you look through a convex lens or at your reflection in a spoon. Something to do with the movement of light. It bends and shows stuff the other way around. Sorry, it's not my expertise. But that's basically how it happens.
1078800
the way i see it, anything you feel is just as real as anything else. i'm just not sure if everything is either real, or artificial. but, assuming that ANYTHING is "real", then even a person hallucinating something that noone else sees is having a "real" feeling. anyone who believes "i think, therefore i am" should agree with me.
154725
The difference is....if you place a screen where the images is suppose to be and you can actually see an image, then it's real. Otherwise it's virtual.\n\nThis applies to diverging lenses, among others.\n\nAs much as I dislike using websites in my responses, sometimes it can't be avoided....like now.\n\nIn the link below, about half way down it talkes about a little a virtual image.\n\nHope this helps you.
929237
Actually, I have a similar theory - I reckon that when you see 'ghosts' they could either be images from alternate universes like you said, or I prefer to say other dimensions, as I believe there may be countless numbers of other dimensions which must over lap with ours. Since everything, by which I actually mean absolutely EVERYTHING, is made of vibrating energies, some very strong, some weaker, 'ghosts' could be images formed by very weak energy/veryslow vibrations, while you and I are made up of strong, fast vibration which give us density and substance. These weaker energies/slower vibrations are probably less tied to a particular dimension and therefore slip more easily between them.
421431
Well if you are talkin about a mirror made of floated glass a layman can c the quality of it other wise ind. know how is required i think (i am not proffesional in it, just being in a float glass plant for a week). If it is a mirror and you c a distracted reflection then b sure that there is impurity in the glass, as well as the transparency of float glass is supposed to be very high compares to the conventional one.
348613
wow, what a cool way of thinking!  I have wondered sometimes that when I walk up to a mirror and then walk away, where does my mirrior image go?  Does it go do something else until I summon it to the mirror again?