Gizmos Student Exploration: Laser Reflection-Graded A+

Student Exploration: Laser Reflection Vocabulary: angle of incidence, angle of reflection, laser, law of reflection, plane mirror, reflection Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.) Imagine you shine a flashlight directly at a mirror, as shown below. 1. Draw an arrow showing the direction you think the beam of light will most likely reflect off the mirror. 2. Suppose you tilt the mirror. Draw an arrow showing the direction the beam will most likely reflect off the mirror now. Gizmo Warm-up Flashlights produce wide beams of light that have various wavelengths. A laser, on the other hand, is a narrow beam of light with only one wavelength. All the waves in a laser beam are parallel to one another. As a result, lasers are ideal for studying reflection, or how waves bounce off a surface. Using the Laser Reflection Gizmo, you can adjust the position of a laser beam and mirror to study how light behaves when it is reflected. 1. Drag the Angle slider back and forth. Describe what happens to the reflected laser beam: The reflection of the laser beam changes its direction, and reflects in different angles 2. Drag the laser up and down. Describe what happens to the reflected laser beam 3. The angle of the reflection does not change, only its position does