Talk:Chinese magic mirror

Diagram?

This page is in need of a diagram. I think I know how it works, but not well enough to trust myself to draw such a diagram yet. Shinobu 02:48, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

coherent light

68.188.203.251 (talk) 20:34, 8 November 2012 (UTC) This may be an example of an early laser produced by coherent light. An example of early physics as are the standing water bowls. http://amasci.com/miscon/coherenc.html

Johannes Gutenberg and magic mirrors

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Gutenberg

Gutenberg had a plan (that went badly) to sell magic mirrors to religious pilgrims visiting long-dead Charlemagne's base, Aachen. The Chinese items described in THIS article would, if the symbol on the mirror-back were a Christian one, seem to me to be ideal for such sales, just the right sort of miraculous, mysterious, mystical light-based phenomenon. I was wondering if anyone might want to pop over to the Wikipedia article on Johannes Gutenberg (URL above) and read what I wrote there (ON THE TALK PAGE, not the ARTICLE PAGE). There are reasons (not perhaps very strong ones) to think an independent European discovery of this metallurgical-optical trick to be unlikely. Is there any way on Earth that Gutenberg could have received the knowledge of the production of these wares via a human chain of transmission that goes back to these ancient Chinese mirrors? I'm not suggesting that Gutenberg learned it from China. Only that he learned it from someone who learned it from someone ... who learned it from someone in ancient China. And this is only speculation. I just wonder if there is any possibility at all that Gutenberg's magic mirrors and the Chinese mirrors of THIS article could be the same technology.69.86.131.77 (talk) 09:45, 29 May 2013 (UTC)Christopher L. Simpson

Herbert Maryon's explanation

See Herbert_Maryon#Later_years. I attended his lecture on 2 May 1962. At that time he offered a very plausible and satisfactory explanation of the secret. He said that on close examination of the back, he could see that the pattern to be projected had been deeply scored into the back with a very thin chisel. He speculated that this was done on the as-cast metal. When the mirror face was subsequently polished, the strain built into the metal by the chiseling produced the minute distortions of the surface that are needed to create the projection effect. His explanation appeared to satisfy the metalurgists present. However, I do not know of a written record to cite. AJim (talk) 06:49, 20 June 2019 (UTC)

A similar explanation is given much earlier in Richard Austin Freeman's story "The Magic Casket", being attributed to Sylvanus Thompson. Published in 1929 or earlier, Freeman's story implies Thompson's explanation is earlier still. While I hesitate to cite the story as an RS, the explanation is detailed and technical, and Thompson was known for his work in optics More later…. --D Anthony Patriarche (talk) 23:16, 12 January 2020 (UTC)

Grammar unclear

The article mentions an ancient Chinese book about these mirrors. Soon after, there is a phrase with an unclear antecedent to it : "Although it eventually got lost.." Does "it" refer to the book, the knowledge of the process, or what? Pete unseth (talk) 20:36, 13 July 2022 (UTC)

Transparent?

Sorry for my lack of understanding as English is not my native language

in the introduction the sentence: "[...] appears to become transparent" is being used.

It seems like transparent is the wrong choice of word and should be replaced by "reflective" or "genuinely reflective". Also meaning is unclear, but transparent seems clearly wrong.

Did they perhaps mean "the mirror appears as a flat mirror when looked upon from the front side" ?

I'm hestitant to make an edit though, as this may be a lack of understanding on my side. Oliver Grüne (talk) 20:59, 3 November 2023 (UTC)