Reflection of light

• Physics
• Secondary Education
• Age 12,13

29 March 2023

6.1 Reflection of Light

Content objectives

• describe what light is
• describe how light is reflected from a plane mirror
• draw ray diagrams to show the reflection of light from a plane mirror

List as many transparent materials as you can.  Try to include solid, liquid, and gases.

Famous people who studied Light

Key Question 

Does light travel in straight lines or curved paths?

In which diagram can you see light?

a

b

Key Question 2

What are light rays?

Key Question 3

How can we show what happens to light during reflection?

simpop.org

Ray Diagram

www.physicsclassroom.com

Lesson Summary

• Light a.k.a. visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be both particle and wave.
• Light travels in a straight line.
• Light can travel in a vacuum or in an empty space.
• Light travels faster than sound.
• Transparent objects allow light to pass through them.
• Opaque objects do not allow light to pass through them, instead, the energy gets absorbed.
• An incident ray is a ray of light that falls on a mirror.
• A reflected ray is a light ray reflecting away from the mirror