system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5 : if perfect white paint absorbs no lightwave at all, what is a mirror ?

I was wondering if both objects acted the same. On which one of them does light bounce entirely ? The white wall, or the mirror ?
gpt
This is a great question, both of them reflect (almost) all the light that hits them, but obviously they look different.

A mirror reflects light a the same angle it that came in. That means when you look at a mirror all of the light came from only one angle and you see an image.  If you are directly across from a mirror you see your self.  If you are looking at a mirror at an angle you see something else at the same angle but on the other side.

White things reflect the light fairly evenly at all angles. When you look at something white the light that reaches your eye came from all over the room.  You don't see an image because the light is all spread out.

TL;DR:

**mirror**, light from left bounces right

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     \  /
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**white thing**, light from left bounces every which way

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