[Physics] Does a mirror help a near-sighted persion see at a distance clearer

optics

A near-sighted person without eye-glasses can not clearly see things at distance.

If he takes a photo of the things at distance, he can see the things from the photo much clearer, because he can place the photo much closer to his eyes.

If he turns his back at the things at distance, and holds a mirror close to his eyes in a position so that the mirror reflects the things at distance behind him, will he see the things much clearer than if he looked at the things at distance directly?

Best Answer

Edit: Reading other people's answers, I forgot to mention I assumed a flat mirror.

Excellent question, but the answer is no. The reason is because the object (in the strict optics meaning) in the case of the photograph is actually on the paper whereas in the case of the mirror it is still at the same place, far behind: the rays of light coming from it are reflected on the mirror but still require tuning from the eye muscles to get the focal point right (the eyes are in fact sort of a tunable lens with a detector similarly to cameras).

I would recommend you draw a diagram of the light rays coming from the edges of the objects into the eye for both cases to get a better idea.

Example

As an example, consider the following: if the mirror has dust on it, try looking first at the dust and then at an object that the mirror displays behind you. You will have to strain your eyes to focus on the dust, which proves that what the mirror displays is not actually at its surface (the image, again in the optics strict sense, is behind the surface of the mirror).

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