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Exploring Light Energy

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Exploring Light Energy

Follow the light around the science centre! Read each clue and use the information in the questions to solve them. Write clearly and explain your thinking where asked.

Find the light

Light lets us see objects when it reaches our eyes. Some sources make their own light; other objects are visible because they reflect light from a source.

1.Ivy sees the Moon shining in the night sky. Which statement best explains why the Moon looks bright?

The Moon makes its own light.
The Moon reflects light from the Sun.
The Moon stores light from stars.
The Moon is a bright light bulb.

2.Sort these into two groups: sources that make their own light and objects that are seen by reflected light: candle flame, torch, mirror, and the Moon.

Follow the ray

In a clear space, light usually travels in straight lines. A shadow forms when an object blocks light. A mirror changes the direction of light by reflecting it.

3.A ray of light leaves a torch, strikes a mirror, and then travels away from it. What is the name of the ray travelling towards the mirror?

4.A torch shines at a ball in a dark room. Explain how the ball can make a shadow on the wall behind it.

What happens to light?

Materials interact with light in different ways. Transparent materials let most light pass through; translucent materials let some light through; opaque materials block light. Light may also reflect, bend, or be absorbed.

5.Match each light behaviour—reflection, refraction, absorption and transmission—to the correct description letter. A. Light passes through a material. B. Light bends as it moves between materials. C. Light is taken in by a material, often warming it. D. Light bounces off a surface. Write the letter beside each behaviour.

6.A clear window, tracing paper and a wooden door are each placed between a torch and a screen. Name which one is transparent, which is translucent and which is opaque.

7.A black T-shirt and a white T-shirt are left in the same sunny spot. Which is likely to become warmer, and why?

8.The pencil in the glass looks bent at the water surface. What happens to the light that helps cause this appearance?

It bends as it passes between water and air.
It turns into sound as it enters the glass.
It is completely blocked by the water.
It travels in a circle around the pencil.

9.Plan a fair test to compare how much a black and a white surface warm in sunlight. State one thing you would keep the same and what you would measure.