How is MIRAGE formed?

MIRAGE is when the air tricks your eyes into seeing something that isn’t really there, like a pool of water on a hot road.

Imagine you're walking outside on a super sunny day, and the road feels like it’s melting. You see what looks like water glistening on the road, but when you get closer, it disappears, it was just a MIRAGE!

When the sun beats down hard, the road gets really hot. The heat makes the air near the road warm and light, while the air above stays cooler and heavier.

This difference in temperature makes the light from far away, like trees or buildings, bend as it travels through the air. Your eyes see this bent light as if it’s coming from a shiny pool of water, even though there's no real water at all!

Think about when you put a hot spoon into a bowl of soup. The steam rises, and sometimes it looks like the spoon is wiggling, that’s because the heat makes the air above the soup bend the light too.

So, just like the hot road bends light to make you see water, MIRAGE uses warm air to trick your eyes into seeing something cool!