In science class recently, we have been studying properties of light, and now specifically we are observing the reflection and refraction of light using lenses and mirrors. We were given these supplies to do so. - ray box - flat mirror - convex mirror - concave mirror - concave lens - convex lens - single slit baffle - multi-slit baffle (2 slits in our case) - prism We then used these supplies to experiment with the behaviour of the light rays in different ways, and record our findings. Flat MirrorFor these two first experiments with the flat mirrors, we used a single slit baffle for more general observations, as we did not need otherwise.
Convex MirrorBeginning here, we switched to the multi slit baffle, to observe the behaviour of two light rays in these particular situations. As you can see in the photo, the photo the light reflected off the mirror and the two rays diverged away from each other. The law of reflection for convex mirrors is that when two rays of light hit it at parallel angles, the two rays reflect and diverge away from each other. Concave MirrorWe observed that the two rays that hit the mirror at parallel angles would reflect back and eventually meet each other at a certain point. The law of reflection for two light rays hitting a convex mirror at parallel angles is that the two rays will reflect and eventually meet at a certain point. Concave LensHere, you can see that the two light rays are travelling parallel, and pass through the lens. Once they have passed through the lens, they refract and diverge, then travelling in different directions. The law of refraction for two rays of light passing through a concave lens is that the two light rays diverge once they have passed through the lens. Convex LensWhen two light rays go through a convex lens, they converge and meet at a certain point once passing through the lens. We observed that between the reflection of convex mirrors and the refraction of convex lenses, they actually have the opposite affect to each other. With the mirror, the light rays diverge, whilst with the lens they converge. The law of reflection for two light rays passing through a convex mirror is that once the rays pass through the lens, they converge towards each other and eventually meet each other at a certain point. Using a Prism to Make a RainbowI don't know if I can say that we fully succeeded on this bonus task of making a rainbow using a prism, but I thought that I would still show what we had. Above is a photo of the rainbow we made, it is pretty small, but we got it. It took quite a bit of tinkering to figure out what angle the prism had to be in for the different colours to refract, and we tried it in many different angles, but eventually got a rainbow out of it. Questions1. How do light rays behave with a plane mirror? Light rays have an equal angle of incidence and reflection when they hit a plane mirror. They generally reflect approximately the same distance as the distance between the mirror and the ray box. 2. How do light rays behave with a concave mirror and a concave lens? Since the mirror reflects and the lens refracts, they have opposite effects as to whether the light rays converge or diverge. The lens refracts the rays, which means that the inward angle causes the rays to diverge. The mirror reflects the rays, which means that the inward angle causes them to converge rather than diverge. 3. How do light rays behave with a convex mirror and a convex lens? Since the mirror reflects and the lens refracts, they have opposite effects as to whether the light rays converge or diverge. The lens refracts the rays, which means that the outward angle causes the rays to converge. The mirror reflects the rays, which means that the outward angle causes them to diverge rather than converge. 4. Examine the lens at the front of your ray box. What kind of lens is it? Why do you think this kind of lens is used for the ray box? The ray box uses a convex lens. My belief is that they use a convex lens so that the ray of light is more fine, and less wide range. I think think that they do this because the power of light can be focused on the only area it needs to go, rather than distributing it among areas it does not need to go. DiagramsBelow I will just show two photos of the pages where I sketched what the rays looked like. ConclusionIn conclusion, this experiment helped me a lot to better understand how light behaves, and how mirrors and lenses work. It was very interesting learning how to use ray boxes, and the different lenses and mirrors. I also had fun learning how to make a rainbow using a prism. This lab was very educational, interesting, and fun.
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