Observing Reflection in Curved Mirrors

Today in Science we did an experiment using concave mirrors and convex mirrors.

Concave mirrors have shiny surfaces on the inside of the curve. One example of a concave mirror is when you look at a spoon, the bowl of the soon is concave.

Convex mirrors have shiny surfaces on the outside of the curve. An example is the back of a spoon.


Aim: To investigate the reflection of light rays in concave and convex mirrors.

Equipment: Ray box, triple-slit ray slide, concave and convex mirrors, power supply.

Method:

1. Set up your ray box, triple-slit ray slide and power supply.
2. Place the mirrors on your book as indicated below. Place the ray box at the top of the page and shine the 3 rays of light at the mirror.
3. Ensure that the middle ray of light is hitting the mirror at a 90-degree angle.
4. Carefully trace the direction of the three incident rays and the three reflected rays.

Results:
When the light hit the concave mirror the reflection made some sort of "X" with the lights. When the light hit the convex mirror the reflection when sideways.

Investigating the Laws of Reflection

Today in Science we did a practical about lights. We also learnt about reflections.

Aim: To investigate how light behaves when it hits a plane (flat) mirror.

Method:
1. Collect a ray box, power supply and single-slit ray slide from your teacher, and set them up to produce a single beam of light.

2. Place a plane mirror on the diagram of the protractor as described below.

3. Vary the angle of incidence and record the angle of reflection in the results table.

Result:

0 degrees = 0 degrees
10 degrees = 10 degrees
20 degrees = 20 degrees
30 degrees = 30 degrees
40 degrees = 40 degrees
50 degrees = 50 degrees
60 degrees = 60 degrees
70 degrees = 70 degrees
80 degrees = 80 degrees

The angle of reflection was the same as the angle of incidence. This could because the mirror we used was just flat and it didn't have any other shapes in it.