In class we are finishing up our laser law project. This project included the Pythagorean Theron, the law of reflection and making a right angle triangle with lasers. So, what is the Pythagorean Theron? The Pythagorean Theron is an equation ( A squared + B squared = C squared) that will determine a right angle triangle. Now, what is the law of reflection? The law of reflection states that the incident ray, the reflected ray, and the normal to the surface of the mirror all lie in the same plane.

To start off the project, the class was split into 2 teams. Our goal was to plant a target somewhere in the room where the other team couldn’t hit it with a laser and the other team would do the same. Once we set up our targets, we put a mirror somewhere in the class to try to reflect a laser onto the target. After this laser tag type game, we had to make a MindNode about the questions we had. I started with a lot of questions and being honest, at the end I really hadn’t answered that many of them.

After the MindNode, we made a right angle triangle using materials we found in our class. This was pretty easy once we got the materials but trying to find things we could make a triangle was a bit harder than I had expected.

After this we did a bunch of math and science worksheets. Once you got the hang of it it wasn’t to complicated. Once we had finished the worksheets we did a quiz on Kahn Academy.

After this, we got to the big part (kinda) we started testing how we would measure our laser triangle by using a ray box and shining it on mirrors. Then was the big part. We made a right angle triangle by aligning mirrors so that a laser would reflect off them forming a triangle. This was my favourite part of the project because we got to use lasers. We also brought in a smoke machine so we could see the lasers better.

Core Competencies

The first core competency was communicating and representing. I feel I showed this by making a triangle on the triangle simulator website for milestone 4. The task was to make a right triangle and measure it to confirm the law of reflection. I also had to have a equation that shows the Pythagorean theorem.

The second competency was Applying and Innovating. I showed this while building the triangle with my classmates Kale and Julian. We showed this by using the correct measurements like the angles on the triangle and the degree the laser reflected at. We also had a pretty good understanding of the Pythagorean theorem and the law of reflection.

The 3rd competency was questioning and predicting. I think i showed this on a wavelength experiment website. We got the play around with the speed, the consistency, the dampening, etc.

Well, that’s about it for this project. It was really fun and I hope to do more stuff with lasers in the future.