Color of a mirror?

[The Colonel]

This is one of the questions that has plauged me my entire life. What is the scientific answer?

[Chaigidel]

silver nitrate

[The Colonel]

i just looked in my box of crayolas, and silver nitrate was NOT in there.

[Axeman]

A mirror doesn't have color , the color you see on it is simply the reflection of light rays off the mirrors surface allowing it to disnguish colors creating a comprehensible image to us.

[Chaigidel]

most mirrors that I know about are made by attaching silver nitrate to the back of a pane of glass.

[Vilhjalmr]

Colour is not intrinsic to objects.


*gasp* *shock*

[Chaigidel]

yeah but silver is a mirrored metal that is its color

[Sphere]

A mirror is all "colors", or white if you want to be a dick about it. Thats what makes it a mirror. It will reflect every visible wave length, and absorb none. What makes a mirror interesting is that the refraction is very controlled.

[Fijj]

Well, we talking a clear mirror or not?

Egyptians used mirrors that were tinted different colors cause that was the only way to make them.

And, a mirror reflects the object's color, so in effect, it has the color of what is opposite of it. Sure it had a color to start with, but if it is a pure mirror, then it has no color. That is the definition of a mirror.

[Sphere]

And, a mirror reflects the object's color, so in effect, it has the color of what is opposite of it. Sure it had a color to start with, but if it is a pure mirror, then it has no color. That is the definition of a mirror.

You are thinking about it in the wrong way. If you shine "white light" (the entire visible spectrum of colors) at a mirror it will reflect white light, thus a mirror is all colors (which is the definition of white).

On the other hand if you shine white light at a red ball, it will reflect only the red wavelengths and reflect the rest of the spectrum.