are mirrors backed with silver?

Answer 1

A mirror is essentially a highly reflective surface. The sorts of mirrors one sees on walls or in bathrooms are of a type known as back-silvered mirrors. This means that the reflective surface--in most modern mirrors this is aluminum--is viewed through a thin layer of glass. The glass protects the aluminum from scratching and bubbling, but also distorts the image somewhat.

Modern mirrors are made by taking liquid metals and allowing them to condense on a sheet of glass, one can get a surface far more reflective than anything achieved by polish. Making a mirror can be done at home with only a few supplies easily acquired at a local chemistry shop.

With pure silver nitrate, distilled water, and ammonia, one can make a mirror virtually indistinguishable from those purchased at a store. The process (in abbreviated form) involves dissolving a small amount of silver nitrate in distilled water, then adding diluted ammonia until the mixture goes through distinct chemical changes. A second mixture is made using silver nitrate and Rochelle salts. This mixture must be boiled and filtered. By pouring these mixtures on to a very clean piece of glass sufficiently heated to the proper temperature, the silver will precipitate and form an even coating on the glass. After drying, one can coat the back of the silver with a solid paint to help prevent degradation of the silver. The result is a fully functional mirror.

Commercial mirrors are manufactured in more or less the same manner as is described above, though materials such as aluminum might be used instead of silver. Mirrors produced for specialized purposes, such as lasers or telescopes, are manufactured using much more exacting techniques to acquire a much more precise mirror, but the general principles remain the same.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

Actually, according to Wikipedia, it would depend on how old the mirror is:

"Early mirrors were usually a sheet of polished metal, often silver or copper, for example the Aranmula kannadi.

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Silvering is the chemical process of coating glass with a reflective substance, originally silver, in order to create a mirror. Today, powdered aluminum or other compounds are more often used for this purpose, although the process maintains the name "silvering".
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Most modern mirrors consist of a thin layer of aluminium deposited on a sheet of glass. They are back silvered, where the reflecting surface is viewed through the glass sheet; this makes the mirror durable, but lowers the image quality of the mirror due to extraneous reflections from the front surface of the glass. This type of mirror reflects about 80% of the incident light. The "back side" of the mirror is often painted black to completely seal the metal from corrosion."

So -- old - yes, new - no (unless you do it yourself!).

Answer 3

They do have silver in them. An extremely fine layer.

Answer 4

yes, they spray them with tin, then silver, then copper then a couple of layers of paint to protect it all

Answer 5

yes

Answer 6

yes, a very thin coat usually

Answer 7

Yes, most are.

Answer 8

yup