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Mystery #2Tier 2physics / light

Why does a mirror swap left and right but not up and down?

Wave your right hand at a mirror and the person in it waves back with their left. Yet your head still points up and your feet still point down: the mirror doesn't turn you upside down. Why would a mirror flip left-and-right but leave up-and-down alone?

The front of an ambulance with the word AMBULANCIA painted in mirror-writing, so it reads correctly in a driver's mirror.
Photo: AgainErick, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Your guess

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