"The
angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection" is
easy for students to memorize, but too few think deeply enough
about
the relationship to understand its implications or to use the
law effectively in real situations. As this activity shows,
the Law of Reflection does have important applications in a
wide range
of contexts,
including
manufacturing activities such as the redirection of laser
beams to scribe
steel for use in high-efficiency electrical transformers.
In
this classroom activity, students program the Function Plane's
servo motor to position a mirror by designing a mathematical
function that calculates the correct mirror orientation for
any angle, ai, of the incoming beam and
for any desired angle, ar, of the target. Students
determine if their function, am =
f(ai, ar), is correct
by testing a number of different orientations of the beam and
the target.
|
|
