Name: date:

Course:

Multiple Reflection

Objectives:

 To determine the relationship between the angle of two lane mirrors and the
number of images formed.

Materials:

 Two plane mirrors

 White paper
 Protractor
 Push pin

Theory:

Multiple reflections are difficult to understand and visualize. If you have one
flat mirror, light from the object will reflect off the mirror once and leave the system.
When you have more than one mirror, you can create multiple reflections. These
multiple reflections can lead to multiple images. Consider the two mirrors (solid
lines) shown at right at an angle of 120 degrees to each other. The object is small ball.
The images, I1 and I2, form exactly on the opposite side of each mirror, the same
distance from the mirror, just as you would expect for reflection from a single mirror.
The two mirrors each yield an image. You will also notice that I1 and I2 lie equal
distances from the dotted line (representing a “reflection” of the mirror surface itself).

Procedure:

1. Tape your mirrors together so that they can be opened and closed like a hinge.
You want to leave a slight gap between the two edges (around 1/16th of an
inch) to do this.
 2. Mark angles of 30, 36, 45, 60, 90, 120 and 180 degrees on a piece of paper
using your protractor.
3. Place the hinge of your mirrors at the vertex of your marked angles.
4. The first angle you will test will be 180 degrees.
5. Place your object (you can embed it in modeling clay if it won’t stand up on
its own) in the middle of the mirrors and look at the reflection. How many
objects do you see, including both reflected and real?
6. Keeping the object equally between the two mirrors, move the mirrors
together into the other angles you marked out with your protractor. How many
objects do you see at each angle? Is very reflected image the same brightness?
7. Fill the table below for the results and compare the number of images counted
during the experiment to the computed number of images using the formula
below.

Number of images 360

Result and discussion:

Angle Between the Mirrors Number of images

180 1
175 2
170 2
165 2
160 2
155 2
150 2
145 2
140 2
135 2
 130 2
125 2
120 2
115 2
110 2
105 2
100 3
95 3
90 3
85 4
80 4
75 4
70 4
65 4
60 5
55 6
50 6
45 7
40 8
35 8
30 10
25 12
20 12
15 18
10 24
5

Computation:
No of images = (360°/180°)-1=1°

No of images = (360°/175°)-1=1.06°

No of images = (360°/170°)-1=1.12°

No of images = (360°/165°)-1=1.18°

No of images = (360°/160°)-1=1.25°

No of images = (360°/155°)-1=1.32°

No of images = (360°/150°)-1=1.4°

No of images = (360°/145°)-1=1.48°

No of images = (360°/140°)-1=1.57°

No of images = (360°/135°)-1=1.67°

No of images = (360°/130°)-1=1.77°

No of images = (360°/125°)-1=1.88°

No of images = (360°/120°)-1=1.06°

No of images = (360°/115°)-1=2.13°

No of images = (360°/110°)-1=2.27°

No of images = (360°/105°)-1=2.33°

No of images = (360°/100°)-1=2.6°

No of images = (360°/95°)-1=2.79°
No of images = (360°/90°)-1=3°

No of images = (360°/85°)-1=3.24°

No of images = (360°/80°)-1=3.5°

No of images = (360°/75°)-1=3.8°

No of images = (360°/70°)-1=4.40°

No of images = (360°/65°)-1=4.54°

No of images = (360°/60°)-1=5°

No of images = (360°/55°)-1=5.55°

No of images = (360°/50°)-1=6.2°

No of images = (360°/45°)-1=7°

No of images = (360°/40°)-1=8°

No of images = (360°/35°)-1=9.29°

No of images = (360°/30°)-1=11°

No of images = (360°/25°)-1=13.4°

No of images = (360°/20°)-1=17°

No of images = (360°/15°)-1=23°

No of images = (360°/10°)-1=35°

No of images = (360°/5°)-1=71°
DOCUMENTATION
 Law of Reflection

Objectives:

 To understand and verify the law of reflection by testing the relationship

between incident and reflective angles.

Materials:

 Plane mirror
 White paper
 Protractor
 Push pin
 Laser

Theory:

Light is known to behave in a very predictable manner. If a ray of light could

be observed approaching and reflecting off of a flat mirror, then the behavior of the
light as it reflects would follow a predictable law known as the law of reflection. The
diagram below illustrates of reflection.

In the diagram, the ray of light approaching the mirror is known as the incident ray
(labeled I in the diagram). The ray of light that leaves the mirror is known as the
reflected ray
(labeled R in the diagram) at the point in incidence where the ray strikes the mirror, a
line can be drawn perpendicular to the surface of the mirror. This line is known as a
normal line (labeled N in the diagram). The normal line divides the angle between the
incident ray and the normal is known as the angle of incidence. The angle between
the reflected ray the normal is known as the angle of reflection. (These two angles
are labeled with the greek letter “theta” accompanied by a subscript; read as “theta-I”
for angle of incidence and “theta-r” for angle of reflection.) The law of reflection
states that when a ray of light reflects off a surface, the angle of incidence is equal to
the angle of reflection.

Procedure:

1. Take a sheet of 8x5 11 inch paper and draw a set of perpendicular lines in the
middle of it.
2. Using a protractor draw a lines that indicates the angle of incidence as a guide
for the light to be reflected.
3. Shine the laser through the dot, towards the mirror.
4. Make a mark where the laser reflects off of the mirror and another somewhere
along the exiting beam.
5. Connect the points to draw a path followed by the light in the reflection
process. Draw both the incident and reflected beams. This will look like a
large “V”.
6. Do this for all the angles, pointing the laser at different angles, but still
passing through the single dot.

Result and discussion:

Angle of Incidence (°) Angle of Reflection (°)

0 0
 30 40
45 55
60 70
75 80
90 85

Conclusion:

After studying the laws of reflection and refraction, we verified that the angle
of incidence and the angle of reflection on a given reflective surface are equal that
the focal length is half of the radius of curvature of the mirror’s surface and that
refraction occurs when light reaches a boundary between two transparent differing
densities. In addition, we saw the critical angle is directly related to total internal
reflection, which will only occur if the light passes from a medium of a greater
refractive index into one of a lesser refractive index if the angle of incidence is
greater than the critical angle.