optical illusion project help

[deleted-630082]

I'm helping my daughter with her 6th grade science fair project. She really wanted to do the infinity mirror project listed here on science buddies. We've finished the mirrors and started on her project board. My problem is, i didn't realize she had to have some form of data table or bar graph and i'm drawing a blank on how to help her create one. Or what the data table should, display? If we can't come up with a bar graph, data table or pie chart for her project, she'll have to pick a different one i suppose.

Thanks in advance.
Dad,

[audreyln]

This is a tough project to gather quantitative data on as it uses the Engineering Design Process rather than the Scientific Method to gather data. I reviewed the project procedure and the only idea I had was around the option to calculate battery pack size if she was soldering her own circuit.

Are there more details on the project requirement you can share? If the requirement is firm for displaying gathered data she may need to pick a different project unfortunately.

Audrey

[bfinio]

Hi,

One quantitative thing you could measure is the number of reflections you can see in the mirror in different ambient lighting conditions. Qualitatively, you can probably notice pretty easily that the mirror works much better in a darkened room or at night than in a bright room during the day. There are various ways you can measure ambient light levels, including using Science Journal (free app for iOS and Android that uses your phone's built-in light sensor):

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-journal-app

or you can buy a standalone lux meter for about $20:

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss ... =lux+meter

That would give you a graph for "# of reflections vs ambient light levels (lux)."

We'd love to see how her mirror turned out - feel free to email us pictures at [email protected]!

Thanks,

Ben

[deleted-630082]

Sorry it took so long to reply. The graph or data table is part of the grade, i'm sure it's to make sure they understand how to read or create one correctly. I think we're going to go with your idea about how many reflections we can see in different light levels.

Thank you for your help.

I sent a few pictures of her completed mirrors, one is two sided.

[deleted-70304]

Thanks so much for sending the pictures! It is great to see the infinity mirrors your student created for her project. I hope she finished up the project and was able to gather the data she needed.

I have emailed you separately about a possible story (using the email address from which you sent the pictures). I would love to find out more and share this story at Science Buddies.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Amy
Science Buddies