The 6-Foot Person Problem

The 6-Foot Person Problem goes over a problem concerning a man standing in front of a mirror.

The video lesson answers the following questions:

1. If a 6-foot tall person were to view their image in a plane mirror, how much of the mirror would they need to view their entire image?

Video

You can watch the video below, or click here to watch on YouTube (opens in a new tab).

To improve the effectiveness of the learning experience, The Physics Classroom has provided the following tools:

Additional and Related Learning Tools

Physics Interactives: Who Can See Who?
The Physics Interactives is our simulation section.This section provides a playful way to learn, Alter a variable, experiment with a system, and interact with the simulation in order to find out how nature works. While our Who Can See Who? activity is unrelated to this Six-Foot Person Problem, it does provide another useful application of ray diagramming.

Minds On Physics, Reflection and Mirrors module, Mission RM3
A Minds On Physics mission is an interactive questioning module that will make you read carefully, think deeply, and know your concepts. None of this is popular. All of it works. Give Mission RM3 a try in order to sharpen your understanding of ray tracing.

Tutorial on Reflection and the Ray Model of Light, Lesson 2
When you need to quickly review a topic and/or freshen up on a concept, the Tutorial section of our website is your go-to place. Our page on What Portion of a Mirror is Required to View an Image? addresses the 6-foot person problem.
What Portion of a Mirror is Required to View an Image?

Teacher Resources

Curriculum Corner, Reflection and Mirrors
Our Curriculum Corner includes in excess of 200 Think Sheets on discrete topics. Each Think Sheet takes a developmental approach to a topic. The one on Ray Diagrams includes some content related to this 6-foot person problem. Blend it with a MOP mission or our simulation (below) and you will have a great lesson.

Physics Interactives: Who Can See Who? Simulation
There are five students sitting in front of the mirror. Who can each student see? This interactive exercise provides students immediate feedback and guidance. It's a "no-fail" activity; every student will eventually succeed.

Concept Builder: Who Can See Who?
Students love Concept Builders. They provide a large bank of questions of varying difficulty, an intelligent question-delivery system, and immediate feedback on student answers. They can be used in class or (with our Task Tracker system) out of class as quick formative assessments. While this one is unrelated to the six-foot person problem, it still goes a long way towards assessing student understanding of other ray diagram applications.

Minds On Physics, Reflection and Mirrors Module, Mission RM3
Minds On Physics has always been a tool that trains students to read closely, think deeply, and reason conceptually. This mission on Plane Mirror Ray Tracing will do all that and more. Give it a try.

Tutorial on Reflection and the Ray Model of Light, Lesson 2
When you need to quickly review a topic and/or freshen up on a concept, The Tutorial section of our website is your go-to place. Many teachers include these as links for students on their course management sites. This page is the written version of our video tutorial.
What Portion of a Mirror is Required to View an Image?

Teacher Toolkits: Plane Mirrors
We love our Teacher Toolkits. We hope you do as well. They include a collection of links to vetted resources throughout the web that are standards-based and multi-media driven.

Lesson Notes

Download (opens in a new tab) or view below

Slides

Do you like the slides we used? They are available in our low cost Teacher Presentation Pack, along with other updated materials used in our presentation.