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tomhiddleston
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Join Date: Nov 2020
Posts: 2

Someone Help Me Explain My Delusions When it is Sunny?

11/24/2020 3:50 AM

Hello Tom, I look forward to receiving my interest in this question. Curiously, every time I go out on the street on a sunny day, I often see a puddle in the distance, but until I get closer, nothing. I want to know what phenomenon it is, and why there is such a phenomenon, looking forward to receiving a genuine answer, thanks.
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Anonymous Poster #1
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Re: Someone help me explain my delusions when it is sunny?

11/24/2020 4:11 AM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirage
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SolarEagle
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Re: Someone Help Me Explain My Delusions When it is Sunny?

11/24/2020 5:04 AM

This would not be characterized as a delusion, but rather an optical illusion, in other words you are not imagining it, it is a real thing...

Tip: ...mute sound...

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Randall
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Re: Someone Help Me Explain My Delusions When it is Sunny?

11/24/2020 5:44 AM

As both replies so far have said it's a mirage.

Basically because the sun is shining on the road, the road heats up, and, a layer of air hotter than the air above forms just above the road. Light travelling close to horizontal is then totally internally refracted by the change from cooler air to hotter air. Total internal refraction looks just like a reflection which is the way you normally recognise a puddle.

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Stef
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Re: Someone Help Me Explain My Delusions When it is Sunny?

11/25/2020 3:49 AM

As others have said it is a mirage caused by the thermal inversion between the hot and cooler air near ground level however if it is a Mirage then you are in deep doodoo as it is flying close to the ground or you have wandered onto an air strip where the first mirage forms because of the large expanse of heater tarmac.

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Haymaker
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Re: Someone Help Me Explain My Delusions When it is Sunny?

11/29/2020 9:55 PM

I wouldn't call it a delusion or an illusion. What you see is real. You are seeing light that is being modulated by a media density change due to heated air. A shimmer.

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PWSlack
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Re: Someone Help Me Explain My Delusions When it is Sunny?

11/30/2020 3:36 AM

"Reality is an illusion brought on by a lack of alcohol." - Anon

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