Topic 14 Light bounces, bends or soaks in — what needs James (0)
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Question types (8)
One exemplar per question type in the test bank; approving a type approves every item written to it. The full type sheet.
Topic 14 · Light bounces, bends or soaks in · Type 1 · bank item PP-1 · tests ENE3-013
EasyMCQType 1 — a scene is described (sunlight lands on a dull light surface; the place gets brighter); what does the light do when it hits it
Sunlight lands on the white wall of a shed, and the whole yard is a little brighter. What does most of the light do when it hits the wall?
- a) It goes through the wall.
- b) It bounces off the wall. ← key
- c) It soaks into the wall.
- d) It stops at the wall.
Why it is this type: Light bounces off the things it hits. / At the white wall, the light bounces off in every direction. / Some of it reaches the rest of the yard, so the yard is brighter.
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
More from the sheet on this type
(The dull white wall, not a mirror, is the exemplar on purpose: the catalogue's LGT-07 row — "only mirrors reflect" — is the belief most children bring, and the generated bank varies the surface: a page, a door, a wall, a shiny pan.)
Topic 14 · Light bounces, bends or soaks in · Type 2 · bank item PP-2 · tests ENE3-014
EasyMCQType 2 — a beam goes at a slant from the air into water; what does most of the light do at the top of the water
A flashlight beam goes at a slant from the air into a swimming pool. What does most of the light do at the top of the water?
- a) It changes direction as it passes into the water. ← key
- b) It keeps going straight into the water.
- c) It bounces back up into the air.
- d) It soaks into the top of the water.
Why it is this type: Water is see-through, so most of the light goes into it. / Light changes direction when it goes from one see-through material into another. / So the beam changes direction as it passes into the water, then travels straight through the water.
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
Topic 14 · Light bounces, bends or soaks in · Type 3 · bank item PP-3 · tests ENE3-015
EasyMCQType 3 — a dark thing in sunshine is hot; what did most of the light do when it hit it
A black garden bench stands in the sunshine and is hot to touch. What did most of the light do when it hit the bench?
- a) It bounced off.
- b) It went through.
- c) It soaked in. ← key
- d) It bent.
Why it is this type: The bench is a dark surface. / A dark surface soaks up most of the light that lands on it. / The light that soaked in warmed the bench, so it is hot.
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
Topic 14 · Light bounces, bends or soaks in · Type 4 · bank item PP-4 · tests ENE3-016
HardMCQType 4 — a described case (a picture seen in a shiny thing; a thing in water looking bent; a hot dark surface); what did the light do
A shiny metal kettle shows a picture of Sunita's face. What did most of the light from her face do at the kettle?
- a) It was reflected. ← key
- b) It was refracted.
- c) It was absorbed.
- d) It was made by the kettle.
Why it is this type: Light from Sunita's face travels to the shiny kettle. / It bounces off the kettle to her eyes, so she sees a picture of her face. / Light that bounces off was reflected.
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
Topic 14 · Light bounces, bends or soaks in · Type 5 · bank item PP-5 · tests ENE3-014
HardMCQType 5 — a thing in water looks bent; why does it look bent
A pencil stands in a glass of water and looks bent where it goes into the water. Why does the pencil look bent?
- a) The pencil bends when it gets wet.
- b) Light from the pencil changed direction where it left the water. ← key
- c) The water pushes the pencil to one side.
- d) The curved glass makes the pencil look bent.
Why it is this type: Hard because (James, 29 Sep 2026: "also hard"): the reason for an observation on a fresh case, against the belief that the pencil itself bends (the catalogue's refraction misreading; the pencil may LOOK bent — James). Every option is one statement of the same shape.
The why line (what a student reads after answering): Light from the lower part of the pencil travels up through the water. / Where it leaves the water and goes into the air, it changes direction. / That light reaches your eye, so the pencil looks bent, but the pencil is straight.
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
Topic 14 · Light bounces, bends or soaks in · Type 6 · bank item PP-6 · tests ENE3-015 ENE3-013
MediumMCQType 6 — two things in the same sunshine, one dark and one white; the dark one is warmer; why
A black garden chair and a white one stand in the same sunshine, and the black chair is much warmer. Why is the black chair warmer?
- a) The Sun shone more on the black chair.
- b) Most of the light bounced off the black chair.
- c) Most of the light soaked into the black chair. ← key
- d) The black chair made its own warmth.
Why it is this type: Medium because: two surfaces compared; the reason names what MOST of the light did at each (soaks in vs bounces off), so both atoms are in play.
The why line (what a student reads after answering): The same sunlight lands on both chairs. / Most of the light soaks into the black chair, and most bounces off the white chair. / The light that soaks in warms the chair, so the black chair is warmer.
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
Topic 14 · Light bounces, bends or soaks in · Type 7 · bank item PP-7 · tests ENE3-016
HardtypedType 7 — a fresh case is described by its APPEARANCE only (a shell under water looks higher); which word says what the light from it did; type the word
TEXT
Ingrid looks down at a shell at the bottom of a tide pool. The shell looks higher up than it really is. Which word says what the light from the shell did as it passed from the water into the air? Type the science word.
Accepted answers (typed): refracted · refraction · refract · it was refracted · was refracted · refracting · the light was refracted
Why it is this type: Hard because: two steps — from the appearance (the shell looks higher) to what the light did (it bent leaving the water), then the term is PRODUCED; the stem prints neither "bent" nor the term (review R17: the first draft printed "bent", which did the sorting for the student and echoed PP-5's key sentence). Three sentences, within the hard tag.
The why line (what a student reads after answering): Light from the shell travels up through the water. / Where it passes from the water into the air, it changes direction, and that light reaches Ingrid's eyes. / Light that changes direction as it goes from one see-through material into another was refracted.
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
Topic 14 · Light bounces, bends or soaks in · Type 8 · bank item PP-8 · tests ENE3-013 ENE3-017
MCQType 8 — a boy sees his own face in a shop window; just before the light reaches his eyes, which thing does it come from
Rashid stands in front of a shop window and sees his own face in the glass. Just before the light reaches his eyes, which thing does it come from?
- a) his face
- b) the Sun
- c) his eyes
- d) the window's glass ← key
Why it is this type: Light lands on Rashid's face and bounces off it. / That light travels to the shop window and bounces off the glass. / Then it reaches his eyes, so he sees a picture of his face in the window.
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
More from the sheet on this type
fb: Light does come off his face, but it goes to the window first; the light he sees by bounced off the glass. · The Sun's light lands on his face, bounces to the window, and bounces again; it comes to his eyes from the glass. · Eyes make no light; light comes to them. · Light from his face bounces off the glass and comes from the glass to his eyes.
Was typed ("the window"); James's typed-item ruling (29 Sep 2026; vault 10 Rules/A typed answer is asked only where the question is closed, and every correct answer is accepted.md) — a described thing is an open key (the window, the glass, the pane, the shop, "the picture" …). Still hard: two steps chained — light from his face bounces off the window (013), then reaches his eye (Topic 13's 017) — and most students pick his face; the key needs the second step. The four options are the things in the scene plus the eye-beam belief. A shop window, not a mirror, so the scene kind differs from the lesson's cat-and-mirror.
The lessons (5)
Each lesson in teaching order: its one-line summary, the article, the script and the quiz, then your ruling.
Topic 14 · Lesson 1
Lesson 1 Light bounces off
a flashlight's light hits a flat mirror and bounces up to the wall (the angles are computed, not drawn by eye); then a white wall, then a red book: light bounces off everything, and that is how you see things. Not just mirrors.
Topic 14 · Lesson 1b
Lesson 1b What you see in a mirror
the cat in the mirror is light from the cat that bounced off the mirror to your eye; behind the mirror is only the wall; in a room with no light the mirror shows nothing.
Topic 14 · Lesson 2
Lesson 2 Light bends
a beam into a tank of water kinks at the surface; light from a straw's bottom bends where it leaves the water, so the straw looks bent; the same straw in the empty glass looks straight; a coin looks higher once water is poured in; a pen behind a glass block looks shifted. "Into or out of water or glass" everywhere.
Topic 14 · Lesson 3
Lesson 3 Light soaks in
two shirts in the same sun, black and white: most of the light soaks into the black one and warms it (a little still bounces off); most bounces off the white one. The soaked-in light did not disappear — it warmed the shirt.
Skill: write-like-james @ 8b55b65 · built 6 October 2026 by build_tools_needs_you.py