US History PBL

My project is about Real Images in a Concave Mirror that relates to Social Studies as well. One way it relates to social studies is that mirrors have played an important role in history and they play an important role today as well. Concave Mirrors generally display images that are inverted in shape and its history is related to that of a concave mirror.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, how much time have you seen fall? Mirrors are truthful and trustworthy friends are always there to tell us whether we look beautiful or ugly. These truthful friends have not always been the way they are today. The mirror itself has changed its appearances throughout history. Theses unique, truthful image showers have beauty in their history themselves.The first mirrors were different from the ones today.

The ancestor of the present-day mirror took birth on an obsidian, a lava rock. As time flew, the mirrors did too. In 400 BC and in 3000 BC the first painted mirror was born (History of Mirrors Dating Back 8000 Years, Jay M. Enoch, School of Optometry, University of California at Berkeley).This was the birth of the flat everyday mirror furthermore, its production did not end. In Lebanon,the mirror widely used today were said to be born(The National Museum of Science and Technology, Stockholm).But, this was not the end to the history of the mirror production. Mirrors continued to boom and Ptolemy began conducting various experiment with plane, concave and convex mirrors(Mirror, mirror:a history of human love affair with reflection, Mark Pandergrast p.84). The three types of mirrors differ in the way they project light display images differently. A concave mirror for instance displays an inverted image.Persians were no less. A Persian mathematician Ibn Al Haythan, discussed these mirror types in cylindrical and spherical geometry(RS Eliott Electromagnetics. Chapter 1). Furthermore, he carried out various experiments on the mirrors. As the 11th century progressed, The Spanish-Moores also showed their potential by inventing a clear glass mirror(Dr.Kasem Ajram. The Miracle of Islam and Science(2nd Ed)).Silver-mercury metals was also used for mirror production in China(Archeominerology by George Rapp). During Renaissance, European manufacturers further perfected the mirror coated with mercury.(The TIn-Mercury Mirror: Its Manufacturing and Deterioration Processes).

The mirror continued to grow and then finally flourished in everyday life. Today, we can barely live without them. They are used in various fields such as astronomy, astrology, medical sciences, chemistry etc. Thus, mirrors play a very fundamental role in history.

Pictures Taken From:

Chimneypiece and overmantel mirror, c. 1750 V&A Museum no. 738:1 to 3–1897

Wikipedia.org

Documentation of Sources:

History of Mirrors Dating Back 8000 Years, Jay M. Enoch, School of Optometry, University of California at Berkeley.

The National Museum of Science and Technology, Stockholm.

Mirrors in Egypt, Digital Egypt for Universities.

Mirror mirror: a history of the human love affair with reflection, Mark Pendergrast, Basic Books, 2004, ISBN 0-465-05471-4.

Ptolemy's Theory of Visual Perception: An English Translation of the "Optics" with Introduction and Commentary, A. Mark Smith, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, new series 86, No. 2 (1996), pp. iii–300.

R. S. Elliott (1966). Electromagnetics, Chapter 1. McGraw-Hill.

Dr. Kasem Ajram (1992). The Miracle of Islam Science (2nd ed.). Knowledge House Publishers. ISBN 0-911119-43-4

Archaeominerology By George Rapp – Springer Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009 page 180.

The Tin-Mercury Mirror: Its Manufacturing Technique and Deterioration Processes, Per Hadsund, Studies in Conservation, Vol. 38, No. 1 (Feb., 1993).