Question

how are mirages formed?

Answer 1

Mirages happen when the ground is very hot and the air is cool. The hot ground warms a layer of air just above the ground. When the light moves through the cold air and into the layer of hot air it is refracted (bent). A layer of very warm air near the ground refracts the light from the sky nearly into a U-shaped bend.

Answer 2

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How are mirages formed?

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$\Large\bold\star\underline{\underline\textbf{Mirage effect\:}}$

→ Mirage is an optical illusion of water observed in deserts when the inverted image of an object say a tree is observed along with the object itself on a hot day.

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→ Check the attachment first.

→ On a hot summer day, temperature of air near the surface of earth is maximum. Therefore, density of the air close to the surface of the earth is very small.

→ As we go higher, temperature of the atmosphere decrease.
→ Therefore, the value of density of air at higher altitude above a few metres from the surface of the earth is large.

→ A ray of light from the top O' of a tree goes from denser to rarer medium. At a particular layer, when angle of incidence becomes greater than critical angle , then total internal reflection occurs and the totally reflected rays reach the observer along AE. This ray AE appears to come from I, the mirror image of "O'.

→ Thus, the inverted image of a tree creates the impression of reflection from a pond of water.

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Hope it helped u.

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