Motoring Discussion > mirror image Miscellaneous
Thread Author: zookeeper Replies: 10
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New Thu 1 Sep 11 03:33 
 mirror image - zookeeper
when you look in your rear view mirror the car numberplate behind you reads backwards
but why doesnt the car appear upside down? im confused
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New Thu 1 Sep 11 06:55 
 mirror image - idle_chatterer
The mirror is either flat or convex and there is no focal point in front of it (unlike a concave mirror in a headlight) and the image is not therefore inverted by the mirror.

The reverse appearance of the registration is down to your perspective - the same reason your reflection is 'reversed' in the bathroom mirror when shaving - nothing to do with optics, more to do with your correlation of the visual image and other senses.

However - the image on your retina is always inverted but your brain switches it.....

Last edited by: idle_chatterer on Thu 1 Sep 11 at 06:56
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New Thu 1 Sep 11 08:08 
 mirror image - Cliff Pope
Putting it another way - it's like looking at the back of a picture printed on transparent paper.
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New Thu 1 Sep 11 09:07 
 mirror image - Iffy
...However - the image on your retina is always inverted but your brain switches it...

¿ʇɐɥʇ ʇnoqɐ ǝɹns noʎ ǝɹ∀
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New Thu 1 Sep 11 10:13 
 mirror image - movilogo
This might give you explanation.

www.howstuffworks.com/question415.htm
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New Thu 1 Sep 11 10:08 
 mirror image - VxFan
>> but why doesnt the car appear upside down? im confused

As the numberplate isn't upsidedown in the mirror, why should the car be?
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New Thu 1 Sep 11 10:20 
 mirror image - jc2
Overtook a car on the M25-rear number plate had peculiar spacing but didn't make sense but in the mirror the front one did.There are some clever people out there.
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New Thu 1 Sep 11 10:41 
 mirror image - Londoner
>> Overtook a car on the M25-rear number plate had peculiar spacing but didn't make sense
>> but in the mirror the front one did.There are some clever people out there.
>>
So what was it then? :-)
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New Thu 1 Sep 11 13:39 
 mirror image - devonite
POL 1 CE
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New Thu 1 Sep 11 13:46 
 mirror image - Dave_
>> peculiar spacing but didn't make sense but in the mirror the front one did

An old neighbour had V51 UOJ spaced to read "LOUIS V" when viewed in a mirror. With "Louis Vuitton" in tiny writing at the bottom of the plates, in case the meaning wasn't apparent.

Shame it was on an otherwise bog standard early Focus.
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New Thu 1 Sep 11 21:42 
 mirror image - Cliff Pope
Does the DVLA do checks for plates that show rude words only in mirror image, or aren't they that clever?
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