The Simple Science Behind One-Way Glass
Today's moment of science is inspired by the plethora of crime dramas. How do the one-way mirrors we see in these shows so often actually work?
The trick is simpler than you might think. Most mirrors are made by applying a thin layer of a reflective material, aluminum in most cases, to the back of a sheet of glass. This is called back silvering, and it makes the glass opaque. When we look in a mirror, our image is reflected by the aluminum, which is made more durable by its glass covering.
So, one-way glass isn't fully silvered. The reflective material is applied less densely. This is called…
The skinny
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