system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Eli5: If white surfaces reflect the most light, why are mirror backings silver?

I know from basic science class that white light is the combination of all the colors, but why wouldn’t glass over a white surface reflect better images than glass over silver?
gpt
Because white surfaces don't just reflect light, but also scatter it. Light hitting them isn't going to reflect back at the same angle it came in from because on a microscopic level such surfaces are extremely bumpy. Mirrored surfaces, on the other hand, are made microscopically flat through any number of means, so all the light going in reflects out in the same direction.