Activity 2

Procedure

• Gather these items from your home or workplace:
  • a flat mirror
  • a flashlight or laser
  • a piece of white paper or posterboard
  • a well-polished spoon

• Shine the flashlight (or laser) on a flat mirror surface placed on a sheet of paper (as in the figure above). Trace a pencil along the mirror/paper interface and the two light paths. What do you notice about the angle at which the light is reflected from the mirror?

• Look at one side of the spoon. Is your reflection upside down or rightside-up? Is it smaller or larger than your face? Turn the spoon around and make the same observations.

  The side of the spoon that caves inward is called concave and the side that bends outward is called convex.

To read more about Mirrors and Reflection, go to the Reading on The Reflection of Light