How is a mirage formed?

Answer 1

A mirage is a reflection visible at sea, in deserts, or above hot pavement of some distant object often in distorted form as a result of atmospheric conditions.

It's actually when an optical illusion appears real, such as water on the highway. Mirages are caused when light bends and goes through one type of material and shows up on another. So on the highway, the mirage of water is NOT a reflection . It's the refraction of light through heat that gives the impression of water.

Answer 2

Mirages are formed by ripples in the air caused by heat, which transfers to distortions in the light coming from that area. Although they are generally associated with the dessert, you will actually see similar things around a large fire or other heat sources (especially if the object is far away and flat, so that distortions are easily visible). If you are driving down a long flat road on a hot day, you may see one.

They are not, in fact, caused by a trick of the mind. In EXTREME cases, the mind can LIMIT vision to tunnel vision, LIMIT it to black and white, or casue automatic muscle motion and change where you are looking (when the room "spins" when you are dizzy, your mind is trying to correct the falsely sensed change in the direction of gravity, or change in body orientation, by moving your eyes slightly back and forth) - but your mind cannot create false images without a serious psychological disorder complete with deffeciencies or excesses of neurotransmitters of some kind.

Mirages are just like visible ripples in water, except that because air is less dense, it is much harder to see ripples in air.

Answer 3

A desert mirage is an optical phenomenon rather than a hallucination. Mirages occur when light rays are bent and produce an image of a distant object or the sky. The mind is left to interpret the distorted image, which can often take on a likeness of water.