What does light do when it hits an object?

This week the year 4 students were finding out what happens to light when it hits an object.

We had to learn 3 new scientific words.

Reflect
Absorb
Transmit

We held up different objects in front of the bright light from the projector to see what would happen.

Some objects let the light shine through. This means that the light is being transmitted.

Some objects blocked the light. This means that the light is being absorbed.

Some objects bounced the light back. This means that the light is being reflected.


It was amazing to see how well some of the objects reflected the light. The mirror and the CD were really shiny so they reflected the light well.

The wood and cardboard were opaque (not see through) so the light was absorbed and did not go through.

The glass and clear plastic were transparent (you could see through them) so the light was transmitted and went through them.

Look at these pictures of us trying to reflect torch light using a mirror.


We learnt how to angle the 3 mirrors carefully to reflect the light from one mirror to the next.