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tymartin
Mar8-09, 06:38 PM
1. The problem statement, all variables and given/known data
A beam of sunlight with a wavelength of 500 nm strikes an ice floe at an angle of 66.5 If ice has an index of refraction n=1.31, at what angle is the beam refracted?


2. Relevant equations
Law of Refraction- n(i) sin 0(i)=n (r) 0 (r')


3. The attempt at a solution

I'm completely lost. I am not familiar with the sin key.

tiny-tim
Mar9-09, 05:36 AM
A beam of sunlight with a wavelength of 500 nm strikes an ice floe at an angle of 66.5 If ice has an index of refraction n=1.31, at what angle is the beam refracted?

I'm completely lost. I am not familiar with the sin key.

Hi tymartin! Welcome to PF! :smile:

(have a theta: θ and a degrees: ° :wink:)

This is Snell's law …

key in 66.5, make sure your calculator is using degrees ("deg") not radians ("rad"), and press "sin" …

that gives you sin65.5º …

now find the sin of the angle of refraction, key it in, and find the thing on your calculator that converts the "sin" key to inverse sin (sin-1), and press the "sin" key again :wink: