Reflection is what happens when light hits a surface and bounces back. Think of a mirror. When you look into it, the light rays from your face strike the smooth mirror and reflect directly into your eyes.

Reflection follows a very simple rule known as the law of reflection:

The angle of incidence (incoming light) is equal to the angle of reflection (outgoing light).

Surfaces that are smooth and shiny like mirrors, still water, or polished metal reflect light in a straight and predictable path. This is known as specular reflection.

On the other hand, when light hits a rough surface , it bounces in many directions. This is called diffuse reflection. It’s why most objects don’t reflect a clear image but still appear bright when lit.

Refraction happens when light passes from one material into another, like from air into water, and bends because it changes speed.

Light moves at different speeds depending on the medium it travels through. In air, light travels fast. In water or glass, it slows down. This shift in speed causes the light to change direction. That’s refraction.

You’ve probably noticed this effect when you look at a straw in a glass of water. It looks broken or bent. That’s the result of refraction bending the path of light between water and air.

Refraction is also what creates rainbows, magnification, and even the shimmering effect of heat waves.

CMY Cubes are designed with layers of transparent material that both refract and filter light. When you look through one side, you’re seeing bent and colored light. As you rotate the cube, you can watch how light paths shift, overlap, and split.

Here’s what makes them such a perfect teaching tool:

1. Refracted Light Paths

As light enters and exits different angled faces of the cube, it bends in visible ways. This shows refraction in action.

2. Color Filtration

The cyan, magenta, and yellow filters absorb some wavelengths and allow others to pass. This creates rich color changes and gives insight into how materials affect light transmission.

3. Light and Shadow Play

Shine a flashlight through your cube and observe the overlapping colors on a white surface. Move the cube and watch how the angles of reflection and refraction shift.

With CMY Cubes, light is not just something you read about. It’s something you see, hold, and explore.

Real World Examples of Reflection: 

1. Mirrors

Used in bathrooms, telescopes, and cameras, mirrors rely on perfect reflection to create clear images.

2. Calm Water

Still ponds reflect mountains, clouds, and skies. This happens when the water surface is smooth enough to mimic a mirror.

3. Periscopes and Kaleidoscopes

These devices rely on angled mirrors to reflect and redirect images through a tube or chamber.

4. Safety Reflectors

Bike lights and road signs often use reflective coatings to send headlights back toward the source, increasing visibility at night.

Real World Examples of Refraction:
 

1. Eyeglasses and Contact Lenses

These tools change the direction of light entering your eyes so it focuses properly on the retina. That’s refraction solving vision problems.

2. Magnifying Glasses

By bending light rays inward, a magnifying glass enlarges an image. It’s a simple use of refraction.

3. Rainbows

Light enters water droplets, bends (refraction), reflects inside, and exits with a color spectrum split out.

4. Optical Fibers

Used in high-speed internet, these tiny glass tubes bend light inside them to transmit data over long distances.

Here’s a fun, simple activity using a CMY Cube to demonstrate both concepts.

Materials:

CMY Cube
Flashlight or phone torch
White paper or wall
Clear glass of water
Spoon or straw
Mirror

Steps:

Start by shining the flashlight into the mirror. Observe the angle of reflection. Try tilting the mirror and see how the angle changes.

Now shine the light through the CMY Cube onto the paper. Rotate the cube and watch how the light bends, splits, or changes color.

Drop a spoon into the glass of water. Look at it from the side. The spoon appears bent. This is refraction in action.

Try holding the CMY Cube in front of the glass of water and shine light through both. Observe how the cube and the water each affect the path and appearance of light differently.

Learning Outcome

Learn how light behaves differently when it bounces off versus when it bends through. These optical principles are made more exciting with the color filtering and layered design of CMY Cubes.

Understanding how light behaves builds a foundation in physics, design, and problem-solving. It teaches:

• How to observe and experiment

• The value of cause-and-effect reasoning

• How abstract concepts become concrete through play

In STEAM education, refraction and reflection open doors to optics, photography, architecture, and visual arts. CMY Cubes act as a bridge between curiosity and clarity, making invisible science feel tangible.

Light is not just something we see. It’s something that bends, bounces, and creates beauty and function in the world around us. Whether it’s a rainbow after a storm or the sparkle from a shiny surface, reflection and refraction are part of what makes our universe so rich with color and wonder.

CMY Cubes help bring this science to life. Through play and exploration, learners of all ages can hold light in their hands, turn it around, and discover how it behaves.

So next time you catch your reflection or spot a beam of light bending through glass, take a moment to think — light isn’t just straight. Light is flexible. And science can be too.