Phenomena related to Reflection and Refraction

You look down into an aquarium and see a fish. The fish appears to be about 75 cm below the surface of the water. Therefore you know that the fish is actually less than 75 cm below the surface.

• True

• False

When you look down into a lake and see a rock, you are seeing a real image.

• True

• False

Dispersion occurs when light passes through a prism, creating a rainbow of colours.

• True

• False

A pencil in a glass will appear to be bent if you look at it from the side of the glass.

• True

• False

Light in a highway mirage seems to take a straight path to the observer.

• True

• False

A stone completely submerged at the bottom of a cup will appear to look broken if you look at it from above.

• True

• False

Your friend has painted a painting of sunset on the Moon. In the painting, the Sun is a flattened ball just above the horizon. It looks like a sunset on Earth, except the sky is not full of colours; it is pure black. What does your friend need to do to correct the painting?

• Make the sky blue.

• Make the Sun look like a distant yellow star.

• Make the Sun perfectly circular.

• Add colours to the sky.

While driving with a friend you see a shiny patch in the road ahead, and you think it might be ice. Your friend says it’s a mirage. From a weather report, you know that the ground is colder than the air just above it. Should you slow down for the ice ahead, or is the road clear?

• The road is clear; ice can’t form on a busy highway.

• Slow down; mirages only occur in the middle of the day.

• The road is clear; the air near the ground is too cold for ice to form.

• Slow down; mirages form only when the air close to the ground is warmer than the air above it. Since the air close to the ground is colder, the shiny patch must be ice.

If the water outside your boat appears to be about 2 meters deep, you can be sure that

• it is actually 2 metres deep

• it is actually less than 2 metres deep

• it is actually more than 2 metres deep

• light won’t reach the bottom

Which of the following is a virtual image?

• moonlight on a lake

• the Sun when it is near the horizon

• a mirage on the highway

• all of the above