Question

What is the mirage effect?

Asked by: Ali Reza Shokati

Answer

A mirage is not only seen by thirsty desert wanderers. You can also see one driving comfortably along a black top highway on a sunny day. That 'wet' looking spot on the road up ahead could actually be a mirage that stays in the distance, as impossible to reach as a rainbow.

Normally, water in the distance is seen by its ability to reflect light off of its surface. In the case of a mirage, it is REFRACTION, not reflection, creating a similar effect. The hot surface warms the air immediately above it to a higher temperature than the air higher up. A light ray grazing the surface under those circumstances is bent, or refracted, upward. That's because light travels faster in warmer, less dense, air than in denser cold air. The faster motion of the lower part of a light ray speeds ahead of the upper part, causing it to bend (refract) upward.

When the refracted light ray meets your eye, it appears to be coming from the road surface instead of the distant sky. A reflected light ray follows a similar path, so the refracted ray is interpreted as a reflected one and a 'Mirage' is seen.

Reference:


Answered by: Paul Walorski, B.A., Part-time Physics Instructor

Search

Loading



Sponsors

USC University of Southern California Dornsife College Physics and Astronomy Department McMaster University Physics and Astronomy Department

Science Quote

'Physicists like to think that all you have to do is say, these are the conditions, now what happens next?'

Richard Phillips Feynman
(1918-1988)

Deal of the Day

Image of Erector SpaceChaos - Dark Pirates. Click on this image for more info. Erector SpaceChaos - Dark Pirates
Regular Price: $29.99
Today's Price: $16.00
Build your own Dark Pirates space ship with this cool Erector mechanics set. Buy it now! Deal ends at midnight!

Top Selling

Here are our physics & astronomy bestsellers:
Solar Science Kit
Mini Plasma Ball
Deluxe 3D Mirascope
Deluxe Water Rocket Set
Revolving Multi-Color Fiberoptic Light
Magnetic Levitator - Classic
Solar System Planetarium 4M Kit
Ultimate Chemistry Set CHEM C3000 v2.0
Worlds Strongest Magnets
Blue Fiber Optic Light