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I Believe It Came Straight

by Anonymous · 1 · 🍴 0

🪞 Where is my reflection located behind the mirror? Move an object farther away and its image stays exactly the same size—tap all four distances to test it. 💧 A coin underwater looks closer to the surface than it really is: 3/4 deep in water, 2/3 deep through glass. Can you make it look 12 cm higher? 🔍 Last is a convex lens. Beyond the focal point, it makes an upside-down image; inside it, an upright, magnified one. Put the object exactly at the focal point, though, and no image appears—follow the rays to see why. All three tell the same story: light bounces and bends, but our eyes believe it traveled straight the whole way. This app was coded too · Shall we remix it and add a concave mirror?

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About this app

An interactive middle-school physics app exploring how mirrors, refraction, and convex lenses create images that appear to come along straight paths. Choose object distances and heights to investigate plane-mirror symmetry, compare apparent underwater depth in water and glass, and calculate the image type and magnification produced by a convex lens. Guided challenges let learners produce specific results and receive explanatory feedback.

Use cases

  • Middle-school students learning reflection and refraction
  • Teachers demonstrating image formation in physics lessons
  • Learners practicing mirror-image geometry and apparent depth
  • Students exploring focal length, object distance, and lens magnification

Features

  • Three interactive sections for mirrors, underwater refraction, and convex lenses
  • Mirror controls for four object distances and four heights
  • Water and glass apparent-depth challenges using selectable real depths
  • Convex-lens controls for focal length and object distance
  • Guided missions with reset, next, progress dots, and feedback
  • SVG ray-path illustrations and calculated image summaries