Fata Morgana (mirage)

Have you ever looked outside on a very hot day and seen something that looks like water on the ground far away? But when you walk to get closer to it, you can't find it? Well, that's kind of like a fata morgana, which is a special type of mirage.

A fata morgana is a mirage that happens when the air near the ground is really hot compared to the air higher up. When light moves from hot air to cold air, it bends, so when you look far away, it makes things look like they are in a different place - like an optical illusion.

It's kind of like when you put a straw in a glass of water and it looks like the straw is broken in the water, but you know it's not really broken. The fata morgana mirage is the same trick: things look different than what they really are because of the way the light moves through hot and cold air.

So, next time you see water on the ground on a hot day, don't be fooled - it might just be a fata morgana playing a trick on your eyes!