Will you die if you see yourself headless in the mirror?
By Christopher MooreI received the following email over the weekend from a concerned brother who wishes to assuage his young brothers fears. The question is one that I’m sure we have all thought about from time to time: Will you die if you see yourself headless in a plane mirror? The answer may surprise you.
First, the email:
Hi there, my name is Jason and i saw your email adress from your website Ilovephysics.com, I seek your knowledge in order to help my brother, my brother is convinced of the superstition that “IF you see yourself headless in a mirror, You will die” This is very irrational but he is convinced with it making him paranoid and dillusional, it distracts him and i hate seeing him suffer from irrational fears, unfortunately, i do not know much about light reflection.
so i was wondering if you could explain how and image is formed in the mirror and WHAT guarantees reflection? what makes it so mirrors would always be making Images with your HEAD intact. so that my brother will be convinced that No matter what you would always be seeing yourself with a head in the mirror.. and it would be helpful if you could also give me proofs of the statements you will provide.
i very much hope to hear from you. thanks in advance
First, the unfortunate truth is that we all die whether we see ourselves headless in the mirror or not. It is just a question of when — maybe 70 years from now. Can seeing yourself headless in the mirror speed up the process, though?
If you look into a regular plane mirror and you see your headless body in the reflection, then you probably should be worried. Something strange is going on, indeed. However, I would not worry too much, since the likelihood of encountering yourself decapitated is practically zero. You see, in order for the mirror to portray an image of a headless person, there has to actually BE a headless person standing in front. It is not the act of looking into the mirror that causes death, but whatever chopped off your head in the first place. Besides, how can you “see” yourself in the mirror when your eyes are still sitting in your head, which is … well … somewhere else.
So, I guess, the answer to the question is yes. If you see yourself headless in a plane mirror (no tricksies), then I think it is safe to say that you are most likely headless in real life and you will die rather quickly.
Concerning your questions about reflection and mirrors in general: unfortunately this is a topic that generally takes at least a few days out of an introductory physics course, so I can not do the topic justice in an email (or blog post). I suggest posing questions in the forum, or reading the optics section of a good introductory physics book. The links below will take you to a few free ones online:
http://www.motionmoutain.net
http://www.lightandmatter.com
If you have an interesting question that you would like a physicist to address, then feel free to shoot me an email as well.
