Two way mirror on the side where you can see through it

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When looking through a two-way mirror from the transparent side, the observer sees a dim reflection of themselves due to partial transparency. The light from the observer's side can pass through the two-way mirror, allowing some visibility of the subject room. However, if a regular mirror is placed in the subject room, the observer would see nothing significant because the light cannot pass back through the two-way mirror effectively. The setup is similar to a police interrogation scenario, where the observer remains unseen by the subject. Ultimately, the observer's view is limited by the properties of the mirrors involved.
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Lets say you are looking through a two way mirror on the side where you can see through it, and there is a mirror on the other side. What would you see? So there is two mirrors back to back and you can see through one of them. So when the light bounces off the first mirror and trys to go back through to where you are, and it theoreticaly can't because its only a two way mirror.
 
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Why can't the light reflected from the first (regular) mirror pass through the two way mirror? (It wouldn't be of much use if light couldn't pass through it!)
 


Wouldn't you see your own reflection?
 


x G r E e D said:
Lets say you are looking through a two way mirror on the side where you can see through it, and there is a mirror on the other side. What would you see? So there is two mirrors back to back and you can see through one of them. So when the light bounces off the first mirror and trys to go back through to where you are, and it theoreticaly can't because its only a two way mirror.
Assuming an ideal one-way mirror (perfectly transparent one direction and perfectly reflective the other so that light only goes one way, towards you), then you would see nothing.

Assuming a real one-way mirror (partially transparent and partially reflective both ways), then you would see a dim reflection of yourself.
 


calvinuk said:
Wouldn't you see your own reflection?
No because light can't pass through the mirror that you are looking through towards you. If you were on the other side yourself. Think of it as if you were at a police station in an interogation room where you are the cop looking at the suspect, and he can't see you. Put a mirror where the suspect is and then what will see. Probably nothing since the light can't pass through it. Therefore you see a cancelation of light waves making it black.
 


x G r E e D said:
No because light can't pass through the mirror that you are looking through towards you. If you were on the other side yourself. Think of it as if you were at a police station in an interogation room where you are the cop looking at the suspect, and he can't see you.
It's still not clear to me what you are asking about. There are two sides/rooms to the 2-way mirror setup:
-The subject side (this is where the subject or suspect is placed; this room is kept brightly lit);
-The observer side (this is where an observer would sit; this room is kept dim)
Put a mirror where the suspect is and then what will see.
You added a regular mirror to the subject room, I presume. What will who see? Who's looking at that mirror? The suspect? The observer?
Probably nothing since the light can't pass through it. Therefore you see a cancelation of light waves making it black.
The observer viewing things from behind the 2-way mirror sees the light from within the subject room (a portion of that light is transmitted through the 2-way mirror). So he sees whatever's in the room reflected off the regular mirror.

Since a bit of light from the observation room is transmitted through the 2-way mirror into the subject room (hopefully not noticed by anyone in there!), the observer might be able to see a dim reflection of himself in the regular mirror, as DaleSpam noted.
 
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