# why do we think of mirrors as silver? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 18, 1999, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-think-of-mirrors-as-silver/5443 "1999-12-18T02:58:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Konrad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f475e1/32.png) [@Konrad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Konrad)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 1999, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-think-of-mirrors-as-silver/5443/21 "1999-12-19T01:00:00Z")
Maybe it’s because not all the light hitting a mirror is relfected so the image in the mirror looks darker. This could make it look as if we are looking into another room through silver-tinted glass. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 1999, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-think-of-mirrors-as-silver/5443/22 "1999-12-19T02:51:00Z")
Wow, something from the 70’s! Two mirrors facing each other would see each other to infinity. Pretty cool to see, too. ---
**Author:** ![Stephen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Stephen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephen)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 1999, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-think-of-mirrors-as-silver/5443/23 "1999-12-19T04:04:00Z")
Perhaps it’s an occupational hazard, but when I see two mirrors parallel to each other, I see a resonator 😉 * * * Stephen [Stephen’s Website](http://stephen.fathom.org) Satellite Hunting 1.1.0 visible satellite pass prediction shareware available for download at [Satellite Hunting](http://stephen.fathom.org/sathunt.html) ---
**Author:** ![Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilgore_Trout_1)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 1999, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-think-of-mirrors-as-silver/5443/24 "1999-12-19T05:51:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Wow, something from the 70’s! Two mirrors facing each other would see each other to infinity. Pretty cool to see, too. would it also not be pretty impossible to see? * * * _what is essential is invisible to the eye -the fox_ ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 1999, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-think-of-mirrors-as-silver/5443/25 "1999-12-19T06:13:00Z")
Impossible, yes. Because (1) your fat head **is** in the way, (2) the mirrors could never be perfectly flat & perfectly aligned, and (3) light doesn’t travel infinitely fast. This is paraphrased from Carl Sagan’s discussion of the concept of infinity in the series _Cosmos_. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 1999, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-think-of-mirrors-as-silver/5443/26 "1999-12-19T10:12:00Z")
Voltaire is right. Silver isn’t a colour, it’s reflectivity. If something is reflecting, it not only makes us think ‘silver’ but it _has to be_ silver. Any other coloured metal would reflect that colour additionally, but silver reflects white light, which is what standard sunlight is. * * * -PIGEONMAN- Hero For A New Millennium! [The Legend Of PigeonMan](http://www.hotkey.net.au/~guanolad/pigeonman/) - updates every Wed & Sat. If I can be bothered. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 1999, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-think-of-mirrors-as-silver/5443/27 "1999-12-19T17:33:00Z")
opus, What would Sagan know? To make an ‘infinity’ mirror. Get a box put a regular mirror on the bottom, put some little lights around the inside wall and for the top get some smoke glass thats reflective when light hits it [like beach houses have], point reflective side to the other mirror. Youlook thru the top with lights on and you see them reflect to ‘infinity…’ Same thing happened the other day when I looked at a mirror in a store window at night and the window glass reflected it back so it just went on forever. ---
**Author:** ![Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilgore_Trout_1)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 1999, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-think-of-mirrors-as-silver/5443/28 "1999-12-19T20:50:00Z")
> [@](#): > > but silver reflects white light, which is what standard sunlight is. ‘standard’ sunlight? i wouldn’t know what that is. but sunlight is _usually_ around 5600ºk. * * * _what is essential is invisible to the eye -the fox_ ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 1999, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-think-of-mirrors-as-silver/5443/29 "1999-12-20T00:04:00Z")
Umm Im pretty sure light is colorless. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 1999, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-think-of-mirrors-as-silver/5443/30 "1999-12-20T00:11:00Z")
I was going to say ‘standard lights’ but changed my mind halfway through. Okay? I think everyone seems to be thinking about this in so many different ways that a concensus won’t be reached. * * * -PIGEONMAN- Hero For A New Millennium! [The Legend Of PigeonMan](http://www.hotkey.net.au/~guanolad/pigeonman/) - updates every Wed & Sat. If I can be bothered. ---
**Author:** ![Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilgore_Trout_1)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 1999, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-think-of-mirrors-as-silver/5443/31 "1999-12-20T07:41:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Umm Im pretty sure light is colorless. ## light is far from colourless. if only that were the case, my job would be much easier. _what is essential is invisible to the eye -the fox_ ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 1999, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-think-of-mirrors-as-silver/5443/32 "1999-12-20T13:37:00Z")
Is handy being intentionally dense in this thread, or does he really just not understand the questions being asked? Here is my best attempt at a way to see the two mirrors: scratch a TINY hole in the coating of one mirror and put a camera behind it. Here is my guess as to why mirrors look silver… most houses/buildings interiors are white or offwhite or some other similarly light color… so MOST of the reflection in MOST of the mirrors we encounter is some sort of off-white, probably a little darker than the real thing. In other words, some form of grey. Which is kinda like silver. GOod question though… that is just a guess as to the answer. I don’t think handy understands the concept we’re discussing. He seems to think that his revelation that the mirror is silver-coated glass in some way answers the query. * * * – Teeming Millions: [http://fathom.org/teemingmillions](http://fathom.org/teemingmillions) “Meat flaps, yellow!” - DrainBead, naked co-ed Twister chat O p a l C a t [www.opalcat.com](http://www.opalcat.com) ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 1999, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-think-of-mirrors-as-silver/5443/33 "1999-12-20T16:16:00Z")
OpalCat, not at all. My point is: 1. ‘Light’ does not have a set scientific definition. It’s a wave or a particle, or both? 2. You cannot see ‘light’ itself but you see light reflecting off surfaces. 3. Everyone’s eyes detect light in their own way. Thus, eyes, lighting, surfaces mean there can be NO set answer to the persons’ query. That’s why, as an artist, I know everyone would do a picture of the mirror in their own way. ---
**Author:** ![Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilgore_Trout_1)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 1999, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-think-of-mirrors-as-silver/5443/34 "1999-12-20T16:58:00Z")
[quote[That’s why, as an artist, I know everyone would do a picture of the mirror in their own way.[/quote] aside from the specific topic: surely as an artist you have heard of the Kelvin scale of light colour temperature. you say light is colourless. that is far from true. * * * _what is essential is invisible to the eye -the fox_ ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 1999, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-think-of-mirrors-as-silver/5443/35 "1999-12-21T06:23:00Z")
I’m going to second (third, fourth, whatever) the opinion that silver is one of the reflective “colors”, along with gold & copper. The mirror, being completely reflective, represents what we would consider the “ideal silver”. Also, silver, like a normal mirror, does not distort the colors it reflects. If you see an amber-tinted mirror, you will probably think of it as “gold”. In addition, you have probably seen a mirror that is corroding. At the edges of the corrosion, the mirroring turns grey before it turns black or disappears. This enhances the perception that the mirror is silver-colored. One more thing: when we look at a reflective object, we are able to perceive that the colors that are being reflected originate from outside the object. Our minds, in seeking to assign a color property to the visual aspect of the object itself, attaches the term silver to the object for the previously mentioned reasons. This is an interesting capability of the human mind to translate our perceptions based on other perceptions; for instance, if you are in a room which is lit with red light, you will be aware that although everything looks red, most objects are not red. For another interesting discussion on the color of mirrors, look here: [http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/001233.html](http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/001233.html) ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 1999, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-think-of-mirrors-as-silver/5443/36 "1999-12-20T19:51:00Z")
Get one of the 3D modeling programs that let you apply textures to materials. You can fiddle with things like reflectance, surface texture, and so on. Metallic surfaces tend to have high reflectivity and smooth surfaces. Silver doesn’t impart much of a color change like gold or copper would. So when you look at a mirror, you say “Hey, this has the same properties as something silver would.” It wouldn’t surprise me if you were also, possibly unconsciously, paying attention to some of the artifacts of the mirror that make it a non-perfect reflector – ghost images from the front surface, finger prints, some non-neutrality in the color transmission, and some loss of light intensity. This would give you a cue that you were looking at a reflector and not the actual image. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 1999, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-think-of-mirrors-as-silver/5443/37 "1999-12-21T02:28:00Z")
Kilgore, if electromagnetic radiation is not colourless, then it must be a particle, right? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-think-of-mirrors-as-silver/5443.md?page=1)