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July 3 – Compliment Your Mirror Day

Posted on July 3, 2013

Today is supposed to be a day to build our self-esteem. A day to look in the mirror and—whether we are young and old, male or female, sick or healthy—assure ourselves, “You look fabulous!”

So, go do that, and then come back!

I'd rather actually compliment our mirrors, rather than ourselves! Our mirrors do a great job of reflecting things for our benefit—and there are a lot of different sorts of mirrors used for all sorts of different tasks, too!

There are tiny mirrors used by dentists and dental hygienists to see the back sides of our teeth.







Mirrors are used inside telescopes and lasers to collect and magnify light.









We have slightly curved mirrors used on our cars to provide a larger view with a small mirror. (That's why some side-view mirrors say, “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.”)




We have fun-house mirrors that make us look all wiggly, and kaleidoscope mirrors that give us beautiful patterns.



We have one-way mirrors that enable, for example, police to watch suspects in an interrogation room while the suspects cannot see them.

We have beautifully mirrored buildings and memorials.












There are lots of other uses for mirrors, as well—everything from military uses to emergency signaling uses, uses in everything from seasonal lighting and “green” skylights to TVs and cameras.

What did people use as mirrors way-back-when?

Glass mirrors with metal backing date back to the first century C.E. or earlier. However, for a good long while only rich people were able to afford good metal-backed glass mirrors. (The silvered-glass mirrors we use today was invented by Justus von Liebig in 1835.)

People also sought their reflections in highly polished metal or obsidian mirrors—and, of course, in very still water.

Celebrate mirrors!

  • Try to print your name so that it looks right in a mirror. Even harder--try to write your name in cursive so that it looks right in a mirror!
  • Hereis a science “game” that can help you learn about angles of reflection. 
  • Hereare three simple mirror experiments. Oh, and one more. 
  • This PDF offers a lot of mirror activities! 



Also on this date:

Anniversary of the first modern strawberries 






















Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest pages on July holidays, historical anniversaries in July, and July birthdays.

And here are my Pinterest pages on August holidays, historical anniversaries in August, and August birthdays.