Is there lag in mirrors?

Haloman800

a real gril
OP
Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2009
Messages
1,874
Trophies
1
XP
1,749
Country
United States
When I see a reflection in a mirror, is there any lag between me waving my hand and it appearing in the mirror? Something like .000000000000000000000001 maybe?
 

Black-Ice

Founder of the Church of Renamon
Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2011
Messages
4,230
Trophies
2
Age
28
Location
London
XP
5,075
Country
United Kingdom
Let me ask you this,
How can mirrors be real If our eyes aren't real?
117662.jpg
 

Danny350

Member
Newcomer
Joined
Sep 14, 2009
Messages
18
Trophies
0
XP
168
Country
United States
The light would reflect so fast that there would be no practical delay, but light does take time to travel so it wouldn't be instant in reality. The time it would take would be so insignificant that no human could ever detect it with our own eyes.

So simply put, there is a delay in a REALLY short scale of time, but we're talking about some of the smallest units of time we know.
 

grossaffe

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
May 5, 2013
Messages
3,007
Trophies
0
XP
2,799
Country
United States
You have to deal with the speed of light through whatever medium(s) separate you from the mirror. Based on that speed and the distance separating you from the mirror (times two as the light must travel there and back) give you your propagation delay.
 

Vulpes Abnocto

Not Dead Yet
Former Staff
Joined
Jun 24, 2008
Messages
6,723
Trophies
3
Age
43
XP
4,063
Country
United States
So there you have it. The serious question got a serious answer. There is indeed an imperceptible lag at the typical mirror-viewing distance.

Now lets get some not-so-serious ones.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Foxi4

grossaffe

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
May 5, 2013
Messages
3,007
Trophies
0
XP
2,799
Country
United States
So there you have it. The serious question got a serious answer. There is indeed an imperceptible lag at the typical mirror-viewing distance.

Now lets get some not-so-serious ones.


Well if you want to start getting crazy, I always enjoyed toying with the idea of setting up a series of Mirrors around the planet in orbit or something that would give us the ability to look into the past.
 

Chocolina

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
May 28, 2012
Messages
450
Trophies
0
XP
176
Country
United States
Actually no. Because lag isn't the best term to describe speed of light.
.
Theres always going to be a latency between your eyes, the mirror (or any surface reflecting light) and your eyes again, but theres never any lag because light is a constant speed that doesn't slow down under normal and most extreme conditions. Theres no lag because you're still getting the light at the fastest speed possible in the laws of physics, so as long as the speed of light can't fluctuate up and down between you and the mirror, then lag doesn't exist, because lag can't exist when something is going so fast that it literally cannot go any faster and at the same time doesn't slow down..
 
  • Like
Reactions: nryn99

marcus134

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
May 7, 2011
Messages
584
Trophies
0
Age
37
Location
Québec
Website
Visit site
XP
266
Country
Canada
light speed is about 3*10^8 m/s and described by the letter C (like E=MC²)
if you stand at one meter of a mirror, you'll see yourself as you were exactly 2/C, 6.667*10^-9 or 0.00000000667 second earlier

at light speed, it takes:
1.2 to 1.3 sec for a one way to the moon
8 min 20 sec for a one way to the sun
 

Gahars

Bakayaro Banzai
Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2011
Messages
10,255
Trophies
0
XP
14,723
Country
United States
There may be a slight delay between you asking the man in the mirror to change his ways and making the world a better place.

Better question: Does the wind have a pattern? If so, how does one follow it?
 

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

eof

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    good night
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    as to you
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    How do you know if the night will be good when you're asleep
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    because i didn't say i was asleep
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    i said i was sleeping...
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    sleeping with uremum
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Even my mum slept on that uremum
  • TwoSpikedHands @ TwoSpikedHands:
    yall im torn... ive been hacking away at tales of phantasia GBA (the USA version) and have so many documents of reverse engineering i've done
  • TwoSpikedHands @ TwoSpikedHands:
    I just found out that the EU version is better in literally every way, better sound quality, better lighting, and there's even a patch someone made to make the text look nicer
  • TwoSpikedHands @ TwoSpikedHands:
    Do I restart now using what i've learned on the EU version since it's a better overall experience? or do I continue with the US version since that is what ive been using, and if someone decides to play my hack, it would most likely be that version?
  • Sicklyboy @ Sicklyboy:
    @TwoSpikedHands, I'll preface this with the fact that I know nothing about the game, but, I think it depends on what your goals are. Are you trying to make a definitive version of the game? You may want to refocus your efforts on the EU version then. Or, are you trying to make a better US version? In which case, the only way to make a better US version is to keep on plugging away at that one ;)
  • Sicklyboy @ Sicklyboy:
    I'm not familiar with the technicalities of the differences between the two versions, but I'm wondering if at least some of those differences are things that you could port over to the US version in your patch without having to include copyrighted assets from the EU version
  • TwoSpikedHands @ TwoSpikedHands:
    @Sicklyboy I am wanting to fully change the game and bend it to my will lol. I would like to eventually have the ability to add more characters, enemies, even have a completely different story if i wanted. I already have the ability to change the tilemaps in the US version, so I can basically make my own map and warp to it in game - so I'm pretty far into it!
  • TwoSpikedHands @ TwoSpikedHands:
    I really would like to make a hack that I would enjoy playing, and maybe other people would too. swapping to the EU version would also mean my US friends could not legally play it
  • TwoSpikedHands @ TwoSpikedHands:
    I am definitely considering porting over some of the EU features without using the actual ROM itself, tbh that would probably be the best way to go about it... but i'm sad that the voice acting is so.... not good on the US version. May not be a way around that though
  • TwoSpikedHands @ TwoSpikedHands:
    I appreciate the insight!
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    @TwoSpikedHands just switch, all the knowledge you learned still applies and most of the code and assets should be the same anyway
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    and realistically they wouldn't

    be able to play it legally anyway since they need a ROM and they probably don't have the means to dump it themselves
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    why the shit does the shitbox randomly insert newlines in my messages
  • Veho @ Veho:
    It does that when I edit a post.
  • Veho @ Veho:
    It inserts a newline in a random spot.
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    never had that i don't think
    The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye: never had that i don't think