Reflections With Mirrors

Rubalcaba, Antoinette          Inter-American Magnet School
                               880-8190
                           

Objectives:

Students will be able to define reflection.
Students will explain the laws of reflection.

Apparatus needed:

Four to five different texture surfaces, flashlight, paper, carbon 
paper, candles, pins, protractors, kaleidoscopes, coins, half gallon 
milk cartons, single edge blades, wood, rubber bands, 8x10 cardboard 
and two mirrors per student. 
  
Recommended strategy:

Opening: flash a light beam on different surfaces to show reflection.
Students read a handout with reverse writing using mirrors.

  I. Students locate the image of a candle by means of parallax by 
placing a second candle behind the mirror and lining up the images. 

 II. Using pins in front of a mirror, students construct the incident
ray, the reflected ray and the normal.

III. Locating image position by using angles of reflection. 
Students construct rays of reflection by sighting the image of a pin
from the left and right sides of the pin.  They then draw lines along
the rays of reflection extending them beyond the mirror line until
they cross.

 IV. Students find the number of images reflected by two mirrors when
placed at different angles.

  V. A periscope is constructed using a half gallon milk carton, two
mirrors, and a single edge blade.