Have you ever noticed that the passenger-side mirror on most cars says "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear"? But the mirror on the driver's side doesn't have the same warning! What's up with that?
The simple answer is that the two mirrors aren't the same. Try this - go stand next to a car on the driver's side (make sure the car isn't moving!!!). Stand about 12 inches away from the mirror and look at your reflection. Now move to the passenger side of the car and look in that mirror. Do you appear the same in both mirrors? No, you don't. That's because the driver's mirror is flat, but the passenger's mirror is curved. And curved mirrors do some funny things to reflections! Also notice that you see a lot more of the space around you in the curved mirror. That lets the driver get a better view of the whole road behind when he or she looks into the passenger-side mirror.
Have you ever seen fun-house mirrors at a fair or an amusement park? They often use curved mirrors to produce really comical effects!
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