The mystery of the Western Han Dynasty magic mirror translucency, what is the principle of the magic

For the peculiar light transmission phenomenon of the bronze mirror of the Western Han Dynasty, although it has been studied by Chinese and foreign scholars for more than 900 years, it is still a mystery for thousands of years. Therefore, the translucent mirrors handed down from ancient times are regarded as rare treasures. The magic mirror with the effect of transmitting light was made in Japan after Edo, which was equivalent to the Ming Dynasty in Japan.

Since the magic mirror is used as an artifact for shrines or shrines, it is well preserved.

The ancients have always regarded this kind of "translucent mirror" with an illusion-like effect as a "divine object", but the confusion is that the translucent mirror has been lost since the Song Dynasty. There are tens of thousands of bronze mirrors in the Shanghai Museum, but only four of them have been found to be transparent to the light, and all of them are presented in the Han Dynasty. Since then, the translucent mirror has also been clothed with a layer of subtle color, and is called the "magic mirror" by foreigners.

For more than 1,000 years, this kind of scene has attracted many experts from ancient and modern China and foreign countries, from Shen Kuo in the Song Dynasty to Zheng Fuguang in the Qing Dynasty, from China to the other side of the ocean, many scholars have tried in vain to unravel the mystery of the ancient mirror that has lured the world for thousands of years, but no one can prove their own conjecture with experimental methods, perhaps more specifically, no one has really copied the mirror that is exactly the same as the ancient mirror of the Western Han Dynasty.

In 1975, Associate Professor Sheng Zongyi of Shanghai Jiaotong University and others used modern scientific methods to uncover the mystery of the translucent mirror. They believe that when casting the mirror, the concave and convex parts of the back of the copper mirror are solidified and contracted at different speeds, resulting in casting stress, and compressive stress is produced during grinding, thus producing elastic deformation, and when grinding to a certain extent, these factors act superimposedly, so that the mirror surface produces a curvature corresponding to the pattern on the back of the mirror, but it is not easy to be seen by the naked eye.

On the basis of this research result, Shanghai Jiaotong University Bronze Company has successfully copied the translucent copper mirror after repeated experiments, and can be mass-produced. They not only solved the mystery of the light transmission of bronze mirrors, but also fulfilled the wishes of antique collectors.

The Western Han Dynasty millennium "magic mirror", the light of the sun can be projected as soon as the sun shines is the Western Han Dynasty bronze mirror, with a diameter of centimeters and a gross weight of 50 grams. The bronze mirror is a utensil used by the ancients to take pictures of their faces. At first glance, this bronze mirror looks no different from the usual copper mirror, but if a beam of sunlight shines on the mirror surface, and is projected onto the wall after reflection, the light spots on the wall will miraculously show bad pictures and inscriptions, as if the light passes through the copper mirror and reflects the bad pictures and words on the wall, so it is called a translucent mirror.

And because there is an inscription on the outside of the copper mirror with bad markings: "Seeing the light of the sun, the whole country is bright", so the mirror is named "the light of the sun" translucent mirror.

It's just the refraction effect, and there's nothing too magical about it.

The surface of the magic mirror is uneven, and the light reacts specially on the surface.

The craftsmanship of the ancients is exquisite, and modern technology can also be used.

There must be a lot of reasons for this, and it has something to do with light.

I think this is a visual error.

This is only due to the fact that it is manufactured in a different way.

It is caused by refraction by different light reflections.

I think it's the principle of refraction of light.

The phenomenon caused by the peculiarities of the materials of production.

Because of the superior skills of the craftsmen in ancient times.

This is due to the difference in the materials from which the mirror is made.

It should be said that the Western Han Dynasty saw the light of the sun.

The "Light of the Sun" mirror is a special bronze mirror, which at first glance looks no different from the general copper mirror, but the mirror surface can not only illuminate people, but also show the ornamentation and inscription on the back of the mirror when the sun or parallel light shines, and the effect is just like the light passing through the copper mirror.

If a beam of sunlight shines on the mirror surface, and is projected onto the wall after reflection, the light spot on the wall will miraculously show the pattern and inscription on the back of the mirror, as if the light passes through the copper mirror and reflects the back pattern and text on the wall, so it is called a translucent mirror.

In fact, it is not light transmission, and the reflected light will form a pattern, which is because the mirror surface is not flat, but with the pattern has a certain concave and convex, these subtle concave and convex are reflected to amplify the angle, forming a magic mirror effect.

Now it has been imitated, when grinding the mirror, both hands hold the edge of the mirror to grind, due to the different thickness of the casting pattern to produce stress, so that the mirror is not really smooth, it achieves the magic mirror effect.