This video does a nice job of showing what mirages look like. A mirage causes a road or a desert to shimmer like water, and to reflect objects in the distance:
The mirage effect is caused by a form of lensing created by hot air. The air right near a road’s surface can be very hot in the summer – much hotter than surrounding air. This hot air is much less dense than the surrounding air, and changes in density can affect how light travels. In the same way that light bends as it moves through water or glass, it can bend as it moves through different air densities. Because of the bending, light that would normally go toward the ground gets bent upward and into your eyes, creating what appears to be a reflection.
No comments:
Post a Comment