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  • A visitors interacts with the Giant Mirror exhibit.
  • Visitors interact with the Giant Mirror exhibit.
  • Visitors interact with the Giant Mirror exhibit.
  • A visitors interacts with the Giant Mirror exhibit.
  • Visitors interact with the Giant Mirror exhibit.
  • Visitors interact with the Giant Mirror exhibit.

Giant Mirror

Pause to reflect in an oversized mirror with endless possibilities.

This giant mirror was originally part of a flight simulator. Its size and near-perfect smoothness makes for astonishing optical (and acoustic) effects. 


Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Listening
Exhibit Developer:   Loan from Smithsonian Institution, 2009

What’s going on?

This jaw-dropping spherical mirror was loaned to us by friends at the Smithsonian Institution.

Designed to be part of a flight simulator, a small flaw (you can look, but you won’t find it) made it unusable for its intended purpose. And boy, are we glad, because this is probably our single most popular exhibit. Is it narcissism—or love of optics?

This mirror’s concave spherical shape focuses incoming light to a point—called the focal point—about 1.5 meters (5 feet) from its surface. Depending on where you stand relative to this focal point, you can give yourself a high five, watch a friend’s head shrink and explode, or enjoy a super-sharp view of distant objects. Walk slowly toward the mirror from beyond the focal point and you’ll see your own head seem to explode just as you pass through it.

As astounding as this mirror appears in person, the optical tricks it plays are not fundamentally different from those you can see in other concave spherical reflectors, such as a magnifying makeup mirror or even just the hollow side of a metal spoon. The main difference is its spectacular size—and a near-perfect smoothness that makes for exceptional clarity.

Can you come up with any new tricks? Let us know.

Diagram showing the concave nature of the Giant Mirror exhibit. Like all concave mirrors, the Giant Mirror focuses incoming light (and sound) to a single point, called the focal point. (click image to enlarge)

 
Phenomena: Image Formation, Images: Real, Parabolic Mirrors, Reflection
Keywords: mirrors, parabolas
Aliases: Giant Spherical Mirror
Collections: Reflections, Young Kids

More to explore

Soap Film Painting
PlayList: Greatest Hits: Gallery 3

At the museum? Try some of our favorite exhibits.

Cold Spot?

by Pearl Tesler • September 10, 2009

What can you do with a giant 12-foot spherical mirror? Plenty.

Science activity that demonstrates an image formed by a lens
Giant Lens

A lens creates an image that hangs in midair.

Science activity that demonstrates an image produced by a parabolic mirror
Parabolas

It’s all done with mirrors.

Related exhibits

All Eyes on Me
All Eyes on Me

Make yourself the center of attention—and reflect.

Listening Vessels
Listening Vessels

Hear here—with the help of a giant parabolic “ear.”

Anti-Gravity Mirror
Anti-Gravity Mirror

Take off and fly in a mirror that makes half your body look whole.

Cylindrical Mirror
Cylindrical Mirror

This curved mirror distorts your reflection in surprising ways.


IMLS acknowledgment

This web project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services [MA-30-16-0175-16].

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