Journal Entry 10/19

I would agree with Spud in so much as that an image of the orange is visible in the mirror, but it is not on the surface of the mirror. Through experiments and discussions in class I have learned that the location of the image is real, and behind the mirror, but the image itself is not on the surface of the mirror. In order to prove this to Spud, I would place an orange on the floor in front of the mirror. Then I would ask four people in the class to volunteer. I would give each person a ruler and ask them to place the ruler on the floor, pointed at the spot at which they see the orange. Each person would place their ruler in a different location, pointed at a different spot on the mirror, but towards a similar spot. I would then lift the mirror away and continue the line of each ruler with a line drawn with chalk. These lines would all meet at one point, which represents the location of the image. Linda's ideas about the image are wrong. In order to convince Linda that she is mistaken in her beliefs about the image, I would perform the same experiment as before, in front of her. I would place the orange in front of the mirror and then ask for four volunteers. I would give each volunteer a ruler and tell them to place the ruler on the floor, pointing at the image of the orange. If Linda was right, all of the rulers would be directed at the same point on the surface of the mirror. They would not be however. Each person sees the object from a different spot so when they direct their ruler it hits the surface in a different spot.