Light, Shadows and Reflections: science class six
Mirrors and Reflection
There must be mirrors in your home. And you would have seen your face and image of other many objects in the mirror many times.
What is Reflection?
The bouncing back or changing the direction of an object after colliding with a surface is called the reflection.
Here we are studying the reflection of light.
This you can observe after throwing a rubber ball on a wall. When you throw a ball on a wall the ball bounces back or changes direction after hitting the wall. This is an example of a type of reflection.
In a similar way, light is reflected after colliding with a shiny surface or any surface. In this lesson, we already read that we can see objects only when the light reaches to our eyes after falling on an object.
The bouncing back or changing the direction of the light after colliding with a shiny surface is called the Reflection of light.
What is a mirror?
A mirror is generally made of glass having one side polished with shiny material. The mirror is used to see the image of an object, such as our face or other many objects.
When we go in front of a mirror we see our image in the mirror.
How do we see our image in the mirror?
The light falling on our body or face travels to the mirror and reaches to our eyes after bouncing back from the mirror that is after reflecting from the mirror and we see our image in the mirror.
If there were no light in the room, then we will not see our image in the mirror. Because we know that without light we will not be able to see any object. In a similar way to seeing the image in a mirror, the light must be fallen on the object to see the image of the object in the mirror.
Thus, an image in the mirror is the reflection of the object.
Other Reflecting Surfaces act as Mirrors
The surface of the water also acts as a reflecting surface of light. You can see the image of trees, buildings, and even your face in the water of a pond. This happens because the light coming after reflecting from the trees, buildings, and similar other objects again get reflected from the water surface and we see the image of the objects in the water.
Even you can see your face in the water. Try to see.
Activity to show the reflection of light
● Take an electric torch.
● Point its light toward a mirror keeping the torch slightly tilted.
● Observe the direction of the beam of light coming from the mirror.
● You will see that a similar beam of light is coming from the mirror and pointing toward another wall if you are performing this activity in a room
● The beam of light that appears coming from the mirror is nothing but the beam of light coming after the reflection that you pointing towards the mirror.
This activity shows the reflection of light from a mirror.
Activity (2) to show the reflection of light
● Take a small mirror.
● Point it towards the sun.
● Tilt the mirror slightly.
● You will find that the beam of light travels in another direction after colliding with the surface of the mirror.
● The light that appears coming from the mirror is the reflected rays of light of the sun reflected by the mirror.
● You can point the beam of light toward a wall or a tree or another building by tilting the mirror slightly.
This activity also shows the reflection of light from a mirror.
Story of a greedy dog
There was a dog. He found a piece of bread.
He clutched it in his mouth and started wandering here and there to find a quiet place to enjoy the bread.
On the way, while he was crossing a pond, he saw his image in the water holding the bread in his mouth.
The dog thought that there was another dog carrying a similar piece of bread on the other side of the water.
The dog became greedy and wanted to grab more pieces of bread.
Greedy Dog1
So, the dog started barking to make the other dog that appears in the image frightened. But as his mouth open the piece of bread from its mouth fell into the water.
In this way, he lost the bread he had.
Poor dog! Actually, he did not understand that water can make reflections of one’s image.
Reference:
Greedy dog: Image: 1: Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
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