6^th Grade

Standard: 06

Objective: 02. Describe how light can be produced, reflected, refracted, and separated into

visible light of various colors.

ILO:

Why are curved mirrors used in car headlights?

a. They make things look smaller.

b. They make things look bigger.

c. They focus light straight ahead.

d. They spread light in many directions.

Correct Answer: d

6^th Grade

Standard: 06

Objective: 02. Describe how light can be produced, reflected, refracted, and separated into

visible light of various colors.

ILO:

Why do you see your image in a mirror?

a. light is reflected

b. light is refracted

c. light is absorbed

d. light is diffused

Correct Answer: a

6^th Grade

Standard: 06

Objective: 02. Describe how light can be produced, reflected, refracted, and separated into

visible light of various colors.

ILO:

Brian is wearing a red t-shirt. Why does it appear red?

a. All colors of the spectrum combine to form red.

b. Blue and green waves are bounced off the shirt.

c. The red waves of the visible spectrum are absorbed.

d. The red in the visible spectrum is reflected.

Correct Answer: d

6^th Grade

Standard: 06

Objective: 02. Describe how light can be produced, reflected, refracted, and separated into

visible light of various colors.

ILO:

Which of the following is an example of a light reflector?

a. the planet Mars

b. lightning

c. exploding fireworks

d. stars

Correct Answer: a

6^th Grade

Standard: 06

Objective: 02. Describe how light can be produced, reflected, refracted, and separated into

visible light of various colors.

ILO:

Which of the following is an example of a light reflector?

a. fluorescent light

b. fireflies

c. concave mirror

d. campfire

Correct Answer: c

6^th Grade

Standard: 06

Objective: 02. Describe how light can be produced, reflected, refracted, and separated into

visible light of various colors.

ILO:

Why is the moon classified as a light reflector instead of a light producer?

a. The moon makes its own light from energy within it.

b. The moon is visible because light from the sun bounces off of it.

c. The moon is not visible from earth during the new moon phase.

d. The moon glows from radiant energy below its surface.

Correct Answer: b

6^th Grade

Standard: 06

Objective: 02. Describe how light can be produced, reflected, refracted, and separated into

visible light of various colors.

ILO:

Decide whether each object on the left is opaque, translucent, or transparent.

1. tissue paper

2. cardboard

3. frosted light bulb

4. plastic milk carton

5. clear window

Correct Answers:

1. translucent

2. opaque

3. translucent

4. translucent

5. transparent

6^th Grade

Standard: 06

Objective: 02. Describe how light can be produced, reflected, refracted, and separated into

visible light of various colors.

ILO:

Describe three different ways light can be produced.

Correct Answer:

Students should describe three different ways to produce light such as light bulbs, candles, matches, flint and steel, chemical processes.

6^th Grade

Standard: 06

Objective: 02. Describe how light can be produced, reflected, refracted, and separated into

visible light of various colors.

ILO:

Explain the difference between a light producer and a light reflector.

Correct Answer:

Students should explain that a light producer makes its own light from energy sources within it such as nuclear reactions, chemical reactions, electrical energy, fire, etc. They should explain that a light reflector does not produce its own light, but reflects light from light sources.

6^th Grade

Standard: 06

Objective: 02. Describe how light can be produced, reflected, refracted, and separated into

visible light of various colors.

ILO:

Why can a person see his or her reflection in a mirror?

Correct Answer:

A mirror has a smooth shiny surface, which means that the light reflecting off a person hits the mirror and bounces off at the same angle but opposite angle that it hits the mirror.

6^th Grade

Standard: 06

Objective: 02. Describe how light can be produced, reflected, refracted, and separated into

visible light of various colors.

ILO:

Heather put a straw in a glass of water. When she looked at the side of the glass she observed that the straw appeared larger and also appeared to be broken. Why did it appear this way?

Correct Answer:

When the light entered the glass and the water it was bent or refracted and caused the straw to appear broken. The curved glass caused the light rays to bend or refract and acted as magnifying glass and made the straw appear larger.

6^th Grade

Standard: 06

Objective: 02. Describe how light can be produced, reflected, refracted, and separated into

visible light of various colors.

ILO:

Explain why you are able to see the colors of the rainbow when you look at sunlight shining through the spray from a sprinkler.

Correct Answer:

The water droplets separate white light into the spectrum of colors. White light is made up of the seven colors of the rainbow.

6^th Grade

Standard: 06

Objective: 02. Describe how light can be produced, reflected, refracted, and separated into

visible light of various colors.

ILO:

List and explain at least five examples of how your knowledge of light energy helps you understand the world around you. Two examples must include technology.

Possible Answer:

Some of the light energy from the sun turns into heat energy when it strikes objects on Earth; therefore, I move to the shade to be cooler in the summer.

I know that light is reflected from smooth surfaces in a very predictable manner (angles of incidence, angle of reflection); therefore, I understand how a mirror works.

Because I know that light travels in straight lines, I can hide behind the sofa and not be seen by my little sister (but I need to be quiet for this to work because I know that sound travels in all directions, even from behind the sofa).

I know that I cannot read in a completely dark room even if I let my eyes adjust because we see objects only because of the light they reflect.

I know that a prism divides white light into colors of the spectrum so I understand that a rainbow is actually a result of water in the air acting like a prism.

6^th Grade

Standard: 06

Objective: 02. Describe how light can be produced, reflected, refracted, and separated into

visible light of various colors.

ILO:

Mirror, Mirror

Activity Description:

Students will compare the angle of a light beam coming into a mirror with the angle of the light beam going out from the mirror.

Materials:

Per group of four students:

Flash light

Mirror

Slit card (a 3" x 5" card with a narrow 2 12" slit cut vertically in it to allow a single beam of light to pass through

Degrees Reflection Sheet

Prior to Assessment:

Students need to know how organize data in a table.

Time Needed:

45-minute class period

Procedure:

1. Working in partners, one student holds the mirror perpendicular to the back of the protractor.

2. The other student shines the flashlight through the slit card so that a light beam follows one of the degree lines to the center of the protractor. The lights in the room may need to be dimmed

3. Students observe where the reflected light beam bounces and record the angle of the reflected beam in the chart.

4. Students write a conclusion about the angle of light reflection.

Angle of Light Reflection:

Angle of incoming light rays:

Angle of reflected light rays:

Scoring Guide:

1 point: Student attempt to complete experiment but does not show angle of incidence equaling angle of reflection.

2 points: Student successfully completes some aspects of experiment successfully but does not show equal angles

3 points: Student successfully completes most aspects of experiment successfully and shows equal angles.

4 points: Student successfully completes almost all aspects of experiment successfully and shows equal angles.

6^th Grade

Standard: 06

Objective: 02. Describe how light can be produced, reflected, refracted, and separated into

visible light of various colors.

ILO:

Michael wanted to investigate the effect of color on light absorption. He painted one soda can white and another one black. He then filled each can with room temperature water, placed a thermometer in each, and set them both outside in a sunny location. He recorded the water temperature in each can every five minutes for 30 minutes. Here is a copy of his data sheet.

	Water temperature in degrees Celsius
Time	White Can	Black Can
0 minutes	20	20
5 minutes	21	22
10 minutes	22	24
15 minutes	24	26
20 minutes	26	28
25 minutes	27	31
30 minutes	29	34

1. Use MichaelÕs data to create a double line graph. Be sure to include title, scale and label the x and y-axis, and provide a key.

2. What conclusions would you make from this data and its graph?

3. What could Michael change to improve his experimental design?

Correct Answers:

1. Possible graph:

2. The data and the graph show that light energy from the sun turns to heat (thermal) energy when it strikes matter on Earth. It also shows that dark objects absorb more light energy than light objects.

3. Possible: Michael could improve his experimental design by increasing the number of trials or tests.

Mirror, Mirror

Water temperature in degrees Celsius