Mirrors have been a common feature of man whether is in it homes or offices or other structures. Today, most bathrooms have mirrors and people have even transitions to other parts of the house such as living room or corridor (or walk way). In most cases, people use mirrors for grooming purposes and that is why although we now do see mirrors in many other places in a house, they are predominantly found in the bathroom or restroom area. By definition, a mirror is an object whose surface is smooth enough to allow for a reflection. There are different types of mirrors and they have come a long way from the days of just being used for grooming purposes. Mirrors are now used in telescopes, laser technology, photography, solar power and many other places. There are mirrors for visible light and there are scientific mirrors designed for different wavelengths of light such ultraviolet rays. Mirrors are also used in many areas for decorative purposes especially in tall and short buildings. But where did mirrors comes from?
Mirrors were not once made of the glass substance that we call glass today. At around 6000BC, Turkish ironsmiths and workers had come up with crude mirrors made of obsidian which is a form of naturally-occurring volcanic glass. In Central and South America polished stone was also used for reflective purposes while in Mesopotamia at around 4000BC, copper was processed and polished to form an almost perfect reflective surface. Bronze was later adapted. Later, metal-coated glass mirrors emerged from Lebanon and then the Roman Empire took the technology to another level.
Today mirrors are made by heating sand and processing it in a chemical furnace and then cooling it in special equipment. There are now many kinds of mirrors that can be industrially produced. They now appear as wall mirrors, car mirrors, grooming mirrors and also decorative mirrors whose sole purpose is simply to beautify the room. There are also mirrors that are installed in entire walls in many homes, apartments and condominiums today. This serves to make the room look larger and more spacious not to mention that light is reflected around giving the room a more comfortable and well-lighted atmosphere.
Taking care of wall mirror is essential because they tend to pick up stains. The reasons for this is because mirrors are supposed to be reflective and the cleaner they are the better the reflection. Today, there are many mirror cleaning detergents such as Windex which is good for cleaning mirrors. Maintaining a mirror’s cleanliness is important because the better a mirror is kept clean the better its performance as a reflector.
But regardless of what we feel about mirrors, they are here to stay and by the look of things, they are actually on the increasing. Hardly do we see a new building being put up than we see mirrors all over. Now it is very common to see most of the modern skyscrapers lines up with mirrors from top to bottom.
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