What happens when light strikes a mirror?

Light can be absorbed, reflected, or refracted. Today, students participated in a lab exploration where they were asked to tape a target to the wall and shine a flashlight on a mirror. Their goal was to then get the light from the mirror to reflect and hit the target. They had to work to get the right angle on both the flashlight and mirror to make it work. They discovered that many different positions worked.

After they accomplished their first goal, they then joined another group. The two groups worked collaboratively to shine a light on one mirror that would reflect into another mirror, and then land on the target.

In Closing, we discussed our findings and read the correlating pages from our workbooks. Students learned that you can see objects because light reflects from the object. Flat, smooth surfaces, like water and mirrors,  reflect much better than rough surfaces. You'll notice, if you pay careful attention, that even every day objects like spoons reflect, too.