Puzzling Mirror Mazes

You can use what you have learned about angles of reflection to solve maze puzzles using mirrors. Figure out how you could use mirrors to see hidden shapes. Look at the simple example below:



Start at the shape, then draw a straight line until you come to a mirror (black line). Then make a square turn, and continue until you find another mirror. Make a square turn again, and keep going until you come to the eye. Remember that you can't see through walls (gray rectangles)!

There are 12 mirror maze puzzles in the file attached below. You can easily just print them out. But be careful - they're trickier than the example above! The second file contains the answers.

Have fun!

Mirror Mazes

Answers to Mirror Mazes

Angle In = Angle Out

Enough about mirror images. Now let's talk about how light actually reflects off a mirror's surface. There's even a scientific law that says "The angle of reflection equals the angle of incidence." Huh? It's simple - this law just means that the light reflects off the surface at the same angle it hit the surface with. Angle in = angle out!

Look at the figure below:

Can you see that, in both cases, the angle between the mirror (gray line) and the arrow on the left is the same as the angle between the mirror and the arrow on the right?

You can prove this law yourself. Get a small mirror and a laser pointer (never look into the laser pointer and never point it at someone else). Have someone stand facing a wall, holding the mirror so that it points at the wall. Turn the pointer on and position it so that it shines on the mirror. The laser light will bounce off the mirror and hit the wall. Can you find it? Now move the pointer so that the light hits the mirror at a different angle. Does the spot on the wall move? You can also try keeping the laser still and moving the mirror. You should see the laser spot move whenever the angle between it and the mirror changes - it doesn't matter whether it's the pointer or the mirror that moves.

Mirror Images

We are so used to seeing our reflection in a mirror that we sometimes don't really look at what we see. For example, go to a mirror and hold your right hand with the palm facing the mirror. What do you see? You're probably thinking, "Big deal, it's my right hand!". But is that really what it looks like? Now turn your left hand so that the palm is facing you, and compare that to what you see in the mirror. They are the same! In a mirror image, the left and right sides of the image are flipped, and there's no way to make them look exactly the same. Something doesn't have to be seen in a mirror to be a mirror image - your right and left hands are mirror images of each other. There's no way to line them up without turning one of them around:

Can you think of any other parts of your body that are mirror images? If you can't think of any, look down! What about items of clothing? Are your shoes mirror images? How about socks? Gloves and mittens? Hats and scarves?

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

We use mirrors almost every day to help us comb our hair, to check if there's something gross between our teeth, or just to make funny faces into! But have you ever really thought about how mirrors actually work? This month, we'll explore reflection, solve some mirror mazes, and get instructions on how to build a periscope and a kaleidoscope!

The Color of Things

OK, so white light is made up of many colors. But that doesn't explain why different things appear to be different colors! Why is grass green, if it's lit by white light? Why are tomatoes red? Why are dandelions yellow? Look at all the colors of things around you right now. Why do they look different, even though they're all being lit up by white light?

When white light hits an object (as the light must be doing if you can see the object), the light bounces off the surface toward your eye. This is called reflection. We usually think of reflection in terms of mirrors or other shiny surfaces, but even dull surface reflect a little bit. But (and this is a big but), not all of the light gets reflected. Some of it is absorbed by the molecules in the object, and you only see that colors that do not get absorbed. So, if you're wearing a red sweater right now (as Dr. B is), the only color that is reflected is red. There's a green book on my shelf - what color of light is reflected from it? What about from my blue coffee mug? You get the idea!

But what about things that are white? And how does black fit into this? White objects reflect all of the light toward your eye; nothing is absorbed. Black, on the other hand, absorbs every color, and nothing gets reflected from it.