The Infinite TunnelRyan LeungAward: Top 100
School: winston churchill high school This photo demonstrates a popular optical illusion, produced by two parallel mirrors creating an apparent infinite corridor of reflections. At the core is the law of reflection, which states that the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection at each mirror surface. Because the mirrors are aligned facing each other, light rays bounce back and forth repeatedly along nearly identical paths, generating a sequence of progressively smaller virtual images. Each reflected tennis ball is not a real object but a virtual image formed by the apparent extension of reflected rays behind each mirror. These virtual images appear to recede into the distance, producing a strong perspective gradient. Even though the physical spacing between mirrors is constant, the human visual system interprets the repeated images as shrinking due to depth cues, similar to how objects diminish in angular size with distance. Additionally, the infinite effect fades into darkness due to the law of conservation of energy. Since no mirror is 100 percent reflective, a tiny percentage of light is either absorbed by the mirror surface or transmitted through it at every reflection. As a result, each successive image is dimmer and lower in contrast, creating an exponential decay in brightness along the reflected sequence until it fades. Finally, the reflections of the light shone above appear to curve to the right due to imperfectly parallel mirrors. The reflected view gets magnified geometrically with each bounce, causing even the most miniscule angular offsets to accumulate and thereby producing a striking curve. 
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