It wasn't me. You can't prove anything.


2004-09-13

Last on Mirrors
Adam escalated the issue to Woody, who found the answer in a message board. I will not put the full text here. Basically, the whole thing boils down to this statement.

The axis you rotate around does not change direction in the mirror. The other two axises change.

The problem I had was I was always rotating around the Z axis. I was always turning my head.
 If I had turned around the Y axis (think of some one sticking a speer through my back and aiming at the mirror) Then my head changes direction and my hands change direction, but not the speer, or Y axis.
If I rotate around the X axis (Think about those acrobats who do the big T on the rings slowly rotating from right side up to up side down, also known as an inverted T), my left and right stay the same, but the up and down are reverse (or upside down). That doesn't make any sense does it? Well, trust me, it is the final word in any case.

Now, there is a slight delay between the light showing one and the other so, for the briefest moment none of these rules apply. As we delay the difference, or speed our observation, this will simulate the rotation around the fourth dimensional axis. What happens when you rotate so fast that the mirror has no time to reflect a single ray of light of the change? That is another conundrum all together. (just kidding, ignore this paragraph)

No comments: