How is a mirror made?

The only way to see your own smile or scowl is from its reflected image   for you can never look directly at your own face. A calm pool or a sheet of shiny steel can give a dim image of the face you show to the world. But for a clear and detailed reflection you raced a mirror.

A mirror is no more than a sheet of glass backed with coatings of metal. This sounds simple and you might wonder why we cant :rake our mirrors as easily as we paint furniture. True, the steps in mirror making are simple, but they must be done with perfect accuracy and precise attention to detail.

This is why most of the work in mirror making is done by machinery. In most cases, the operation starts with a sheet of heavy plate glass. A layer of silver and a layer of metal are applied to the back of the glass and the backing coated with lacquer and paint.

 The sheet of glass is examined for imperfections, for it a must be of even thickness. The surface is ground and polished to mirror smoothness by an annealing machine. It is then coated with a layer of tin chloride to protect it while the opposite side of the glass is being coated.

A machine pours a solution of silver salts evenly on the back of the glass; Some of the silver atoms stick and the rest of the solution is rinsed away. The mirror now has a backing of silver. It dries quickly and the glass is sent to an electrolytic bath. The bath water is a solution of copper chemicals and an electric current causes an even layer of copper to form on top of the layer of silver.

The two coatings of metal are thinner than a sheet a sheet of paper, but if the mirror is to display an accurate reflection, they must be perfectly even. You could not do this precise work with a paint brush, for the most carefully applied paint is full of ups and downs.

 The thin layers of metal are damaged easily and the smallestscratch makes a streak in the reflection, for this reason, the metal coatings are covered first with a protective layer of lacquer and then a sturdy layer of paint. The front surface of the mirror is then cleaned and maybe given an extra buffing.

There are many special mirrors designed to do special woi:1y, but all of them have shiny surfaces, such as polished glass. All of them have level layers of metal or some other non transparent material on the opposite side. The best of mirrors reflects about 80% of the scenery   so maybe the smile you show to the world is a little brighter than the reflection you see in the glass. However, your scowl also might be somewhat worse than the reflection you see in the mirror,