![]() ![]() Extra: If you have a kaleidoscope, look through it.Then try to draw your creation and note the symmetry. Extra: Use the reflection properties you just explored and some other colorful objects, such as beads or other trinkets, to make a work of beauty.Do you see a pattern? Can you explain what you observe? How many reflections do you see this time? Repeat with angles of 45 degrees and 30 degrees. How many reflections do you see this time? Reduce the angle between the two reflective surfaces to close to 60 degrees. Level your eyes with the small mirror and look toward the vertical line where the two mirrors touch, so that you see the wall mirror and small mirror at the same time. Place your fingertip or a small, colorful object somewhere in the 90-degree angle between the two reflective surfaces. It might help to rest the small mirror on a flat surface placed next to the wall mirror. Extra: Hold your small mirror vertically against the large mirror, at a 90-degree angle.Which distance results in more reflections? How does your image change if there is more space between the two mirrors? Now get very close to the wall mirror. Take a step back from the wall mirror.Do you get the impression that reflections are farther and farther away? How are reflections that appear to be far away different from the reflections that appear to be close? Do they get dimmer, less sharp? Hold your small mirror in a position that allows you to see a lot of reflections.Is there a particular position in which you can see very few reflections? What is the fewest number of reflections you see? And is there a position in which you can see a lot of reflections? How many can you see? Do they seem to go on forever? Tilt the small mirror a little and watch what happens to the reflection(s).Is what you see in the wall mirror different when you hold the small mirror in place? How is it different? Can you explain what you see? While looking at your index finger in the large wall mirror, briefly remove the small mirror and then put it back again.Do you see the reflection of your finger in the wall mirror? Do you see the nail, the skin-side of your fingertip or both? ![]() Place your index finger between the two mirrors, with your fingernail facing the large wall mirror.Hold a small mirror just under your eyes, so that the reflective surfaces of the mirrors are facing each other.Make sure there are about twenty centimeters between you and the mirror. Stand in front of a large wall mirror, looking into it.Collect your small mirror along with any colorful objects you might wish to use.Optional: trinkets or other small, colorful objects.Now, what image would your brain create if light reflected several times before hitting your eyes? Find out in this activity, and discover ways to create beautiful images! As a result, a reflection is always a little dimmer and slightly less crisp than the image made with the same light reaching the eye directly. High-quality mirrors reflect light especially well, but even high-quality mirrors absorb and scatter a small fraction of the light hitting them. This allows your brain to reconstruct a clear image. In addition, they have a very smooth surface, causing light to reflect in an orderly way. ![]() Mirrors, being shiny, reflect almost all the light hitting their surface. It is an optical illusion, a virtual image of a real object. The result is what you see in the mirror: an object that looks similar, but appears to be placed behind the mirror. But what happens if light coming from an object hits a flat mirror and is reflected (or bounced back) before it hits your eyes? Your brain, being unaware that the light was reflected, will reconstruct an image with the information it received, assuming the light traveled on a straight path from the object to the eye. The reason why you see objects is that light hitting these objects reflects back into your eyes (and then is perceived and represented as those objects by your brain). Try this activity, and be amazed by the many images mirrors can create! Before you know it, you might be inspired to create some real works of beauty. But can we create an infinite number of reflections? What if, instead of a ball, light was bouncing between two walls, which were both covered in mirrors? Do you think that could bounce back and forth forever? Imagine each light bounce added one reflection of an object in the mirror-for example, you! Would it look like there were an infinite number of "yous"? Perhaps you have noticed something like this in a fun house or a room with multiple mirrors. Can you imagine a bouncy ball that could bounce back and forth between two walls, infinitely-that is, forever? Wouldn't that be amazing? ![]()
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