What are mirrors made of and how do they work?

Question

What are mirrors made of and how do they work?

Answer 1

glass, with a thin layer of aluminium at the back...

Answer 2

mirrors are made of glass

with something on the back. yaaaaaah. that's all i know.

Answer 3

what would it look like if you put 2 mirrors facing each other?

Answer 4

Glass with a metal coating behind.

In ancient times mirrors were highly polished metals like copper (but not aluminium, because extracting it from the ore needs huge levels of electricity - a recent development)

They work because of laws of physics regarding reflection. The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection about the same plane. Thus, a flat mirror gives a true reflection. Concaved or convexed mirrors have curved surfaces and can make reflections appear bigger or smaller, useful in places such as the car. Altering the angles by means such as making the mirror surface an irregular shape makes the "hall of mirrors" possible - distorting the reflected image. This is something like the ripple effect when you see distorted reflections on top of water.

Absorbent surfaces do not reflect.

Answer 5

Glass, they are coated on the back with a special paint which then allows you to see a stable reflextion.