Look at the Uses of Reflective Materials

What do you know about reflective materials?

 

 

We love looking at ourselves in the mirror!

...Not really, but a mirror is a great example of a  reflective material.

 

Mirrors actually reflect light so well that we can see ourselves very clearly in them, but there's always something off about our reflection...do you know what it is?

 

We are back to front!

Try looking in a mirror, if you raise your left hand, it looks like your right hand - pretty cool right!?

 

 

Now, let's get into today's activity!

Different materials are used for different purposes.

For example, mirrors are made of very reflective glass and metal together, but would the same mirror material be useful on a firefighter's coat?

 

Probably not, because it would make the coat very heavy and would be too reflective! They just need to be seen at night, not for people to look at their reflections in their coats!

 

The best reflective materials are smooth, shiny and flat.

 

Reflective materials have been created and used for lots of different things, such as:

 

Traffic cones
Emergency service uniforms
Street signs
Reflectors on bikes and cars (inside the lights)
Reflective panels on emergency service vehicles - such as police cars and ambulances.

 

Can you think of any others you have seen?

 

In this activity,  we will be looking at reflective materials and sorting and classifying them - ready?

 

 

Let's go!