Just For Fun – Why Are You Upside Down in the Reflection of a Spoon?

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This was the question my son asked me at when he was 3 years old-
“Why am I upside down on my spoon?”
Other than telling him it’s his reflection- I didn’t really know how to explain it to him! In fact, until my son asked me, I didn’t even realize that my spoon reflected me as upside down on one side it!! So thus began the hunt for information!
A spoon is similar to a mirror- just curved instead of flat. When you look into a mirror, the light reflects off of you and bounces back through the mirror. Well when you look in a spoon- you see what the light is reflecting off of, but instead of being flat it is curved. Because the spoon is curved the light doesn’t reflect directly back, it reflects at an angle. So although you are not actually upside down, it appears that way in the reflection of the spoon!
*For some extra fun try slowly bringing the spoon closer to you, then further away- what happens?

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