Resumen de Simulation of the Inferior Mirage
A mirage can occur when a continuous variation in the refractive index of the air causes light rays to follow a curved path. As a result, the image we see is displaced from the location of the object.1If the image appears higher in the air than the object, it is called a �superior� mirage, while if it appears lower it is called an �inferior� mirage.2The most common example of an inferior mirage is when, on a hot day, a stretch of dry road off in the distance appears to be wet see Fig. 1. Many lab activities have been described that simulate the formation of superior mirages. In these demonstrations light beams curve downward as they pass through a nonuniform fluid.3�6Much less common are laboratory demonstrations of upwardcurving light rays of the kind responsible for inferior mirages. This paper describes a simple version of such a demonstration.
