Name: Jason Sadurni Date:

Student Exploration: Laser Reflection

Directions: Follow the instructions to go through the simulation. Respond to the questions and
prompts in the orange boxes.
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. Click the image, click Edit ✏️Draw an arrow 2. Click the image, click Edit ✏️Suppose you tilt
showing the direction you think the beam of the mirror. Draw an arrow showing the direction
light will most likely reflect off the mirror. 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:

it changes angle of reflection

2. Drag the laser up and down. Describe what happens to the reflected laser beam:

it moves the angle of the mirror

Activity A: Get the Gizmo ready:

Reflection from a ● Set the Laser location to 0 cm.

plane mirror
● Set the Angle to 25 degrees.

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 ● Make sure Plane mirror is selected.

Introduction: A plane mirror is a perfectly flat, smooth surface. In this activity, you will study how plane mirrors
reflect light.
Question: How does the angle of a mirror determine the angle of the reflected light?
1. Observe: Turn on Show normal. The normal is the dotted line perpendicular to the mirror. The angle of
incidence (θi) is the angle between the incoming laser beam and the normal. The angle of reflection (θr) is the
angle between the reflected laser beam and the normal.
Move the Angle slider back and forth. What do you notice about the sizes of θi and θr?

they are both the same

2. Measure: Set the Angle to 40 degrees and turn on Show protractor. Each marking on the protractor represents
10 degrees.

What do θi and θr equal? θi = 40 θr = 40

3. Make a rule: What is the relationship between θi and θr?

they are both the same

Turn on Show angles and move the Angle slider back and forth. Was your rule correct?

yes

The law of reflection states that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.
4. Gather data: Use the Gizmo to complete the table below.

Mirror angle Angle of incidence (θi) Angle of reflection (θr)

0° 0 0
25° 25 25
50° 50 50

5. Make a rule: How is the mirror angle related to the angles of incidence and reflection?

they both rely on the angle

Activity B: Get the Gizmo ready:

Reflection from ● Turn off Show normal and Show protractor.

non-planar
mirrors ● Set the mirror Angle to 50°.
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Question: How can you use the angle of refraction to determine the shape of a non-planar mirror’s surface?
1. Observe: Turn on Insert beam splitter. How do the seven incoming beams compare with one another? How do
the reflected beams compare with one another?

2. Observe: From the dropdown menu at lower right, select Mirror 1. Unlike the plane mirror, mirror 1 is not flat.

A. Describe how the laser beams changed:

B. Why do you think this happened?

3. Solve: Turn off Insert beam splitter. Set the mirror’s Angle to 0 degrees and the Laser location to 35 cm. Check
that Show angles is on.
A. What are the angle of incidence and angle of reflection (θi and θr)?

B. What does this tell you about the surface of the mirror in this location?

C. Move the Laser location to 14 cm. How did the orientation of the beam change?

D. What does this tell you about the surface of the mirror in this location?

4. Summarize: What does it mean if the reflected beam is above the incident beam? What does it mean if the
reflected beam is below the incident beam?

5. Collect data: You will now use the laser to map the
surfaces of mirrors 1, 2, and 3. In the rows of the table,
record each mirror’s angle at all the listed locations. If the
beam is deflected downward, the angle is negative.
Otherwise the angle is positive. Height Mirror 1 Mirror 2 Mirror 3
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 Angle Angle Angle -20 cm
35 cm -25 cm
30 cm -30 cm
25 cm -35 cm
20 cm
15 cm
10 cm 6. Draw: Click the image, click Edit ✏️Use the data
you collected to create drawings of the mirrors’
5 cm surfaces in the boxes below. Be sure to pay
0 cm attention to negative signs, which indicate the
direction of the angle.
-5 cm
-10 cm
Mirror 1 Mirror 2 Mirror 3
-15 cm
7. Analyze: Does the law of reflection hold true for mirrors that aren’t flat? Use the Gizmo to explore this question,
and describe your findings.

Reproduction for educational use only. Public sharing or posting prohibited. © 2020 ExploreLearning™ All rights reserved