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Double concave mirror toy



Its brand name is "Mirage" and it's available from any number of novelty and
science supply houses. One in particular is Arbor Scientific,
http://www.arborsci.com. It consists of two spherical mirrors. One mirror
does an imitation of a bowl with a reflective inner surface. The other does
an imitation of a lid, also with a reflecting inner surface. The "lid" has a
two inch hole in the center. The whole thing does an imitation of a flying
saucer. If a small toy, coin, pencil eraser, etc. is placed in the bottom,
an image of the object can be seen on top of the flying saucer. The image
is real (not virtual), upright, and the same size and color as the original.
Most people can't resist running their fingers through the image. It's fun
just to watch them!

One thing that I point out to my students is that they are already very
familiar with virtual images. There's one in every bathroom mirror. What
they are not so familiar with are the *real* images.

Vickie Frohne
Benedictine University Physics Dept.
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