Theory

The two-way mirror that will be used in this project has an important property. When one side of the mirror is exposed to a brighter ambient light than the other, this light is reflected in the mirror surface and is allowed to pass through to the other (darker) side of the mirror.

Typically, this property is used to control how the mirror is used in security applications, for example, a shop may fit such a mirror between an office and the shop floor so that those in the office can still see what is happening on the shop floor. For this to happen, the office must have very minimal lighting to ensure that the bright light from the already well-lit shop floor passes through to the office and that no light from the office leaks through the mirror, exposing it to the shop floor.

In our project, we will use this property to create a display that shows white text and graphics on a mirrored background by placing a section of the mirror in front of an LCD monitor.

This is possible if you keep...