Tonight while cleaning your teeth, you might like to reflect on the amazing invention of the mirror. We take them for granted, but the modern mirror is a remarkable invention. Subscribe now for unlimited access .
$ 0 / (min cost $ 0 ) Login or signup to continue reading Continue with Email Continue with Google Continue with Apple See subscription options The mirrors we use are also relatively recent. The oldest known mirrors were polished obsidian, dating back to Turkey around 6000 BC. After that time, there are various examples using alloys such as bronze.
These would have been expensive, uncommon and not particularly good. They would not match the quality and price of the mirrors we use today. With current manufacturing techniques, aluminium is vaporised in a vacuum, and bonded to the glass surface.
This makes a good reflector that doesn't modify the colour. Humans are one of the few species who realise that the image in a mirror is a reflected self. Picture Shutterstock That's a start, but still not up to scratch if the glass is not perfectly smooth.
Any imperfections will distort the image, and spoil your face with bumps and hollows that aren't there. Metal-backed glass mirrors did appear around the first century AD, but the poor quality glass did not work well. Producing good plate glass has only been possible since 1687 when Bernard Perrot of Orleans made quality plate glass by pouring liquid glass onto an iron table, then rolling it.
The cheap modern method of producin.
