How Does the Mirror Know There's an Object There

Submission 3,962

Part of a series on TikTok. [View Related Entries]

About

How Does the Mirror Know There's an Object There or the TikTok Mirror Trick Trend refers to a viral video and trend on TikTok where a person holds an egg on the other side of a sheet of paper, which is held against a mirror, then films the reflection in the mirror, which shows the egg despite it being behind the paper, posing the question, "How does the mirror know the egg is there?" The video went viral in April 2023 and inspired other TikTokers to try it themselves, as well as videos scientifically explaining how it works.

Origin

On April 5th, 2023, TikToker^[1] @_.urfavcurlyhead._ posted a video where he holds an egg behind a piece of paper, which is held against a mirror, filming the mirror at an angle where the reflection shows the egg despite it being hidden from plain view, asking, "Can anyone explain how does the mirror know that there's an object there?" The video gained over 21 million views in a month (shown below).

Spread

The video inspired other TikTokers to test the phenomenon for themselves. For example, on April 5th, 2023, TikToker^[2] @baileycaviness12 posted a video doing the same thing, garnering over 6 million views in a month (shown below, left).

On April 6th, TikToker^[3] @matt.math duetted their video, explaining how it works with a Furby. In the video, he marks the spot where the Furby's foot appears in the reflection, which is far from the edges of the paper. He explains that the light from the furby reflects in a straight line, diagonally towards that point, where it bounces off the mirror and hits the eyes, explaining that the image of the Furby is always on the mirror but you need to be at the right angle to see it. The video gained over 472,000 views in a month (shown below, right).

On April 7th, Screen Rant^[4] published a piece explaining the trend, followed by Distractify^[5] on April 10th. On April 28th, Twitter^[6] user @Baris6109 posted a piece of Chainsaw Man fan art where two characters from the series test the trick for themselves, garnering over 265,000 likes in four days (shown below).