View Full Version : help on optics problems...please...they are due tonight!!!
supermenscher
Jul15-04, 10:48 AM
Two mirrors meet at an 125 degree angle. If light rays strike one mirror at 125 degrees, what angle do they leave the second mirror? I got 5 degrees and I tried negative 5 degrees, but both of those answers are wrong.
A diver shines a flashlight upward from beneath the water at a 47.5 degree angle to the vertical. At what angle does the light leaver the water. I got 71.5 degrees, and that answer was incorrect.
LIght is incident on an equlateral crown glass prism at a 42 degree angle to the normal on one face. Calculate the angle at which light emerges from the oppoiste face. Assume n = 1.56. I tried this problem twice, and got two wrong answers.
Can someone please help me :)
In order to get the help you need, you must show your work so we can see what you are doing wrong.
Two mirrors meet at an 125 degree angle. If light rays strike one mirror at 125 degrees, what angle do they leave the second mirror? I got 5 degrees and I tried negative 5 degrees, but both of those answers are wrong.
I assume you are talking about plane mirrors? If so, I understand what "meeting at 125 degrees" probably means. But what does light striking at 125 degrees mean? Usually the angle is given with respect to the normal, thus can only go as high as 90 degrees.
A diver shines a flashlight upward from beneath the water at a 47.5 degree angle to the vertical. At what angle does the light leaver the water. I got 71.5 degrees, and that answer was incorrect.
Apply Snell's law of refraction. You mixed up the indices of refraction for air and water.
LIght is incident on an equlateral crown glass prism at a 42 degree angle to the normal on one face. Calculate the angle at which light emerges from the oppoiste face. Assume n = 1.56. I tried this problem twice, and got two wrong answers.
Apply Snell's law of refraction and some triangle geometry.
supermenscher
Jul15-04, 04:47 PM
Sorry I made a typo, the light ray strikes one mirror at 40 degrees
supermenscher
Jul15-04, 07:30 PM
Thanks for your help doc al
All three solved correctly?
supermenscher
Jul15-04, 08:11 PM
Yes, I followed the formulas given and plugged in the numbers
supermenscher
Jul15-04, 08:23 PM
I got the other 2 right, but I still can't get the first one with the mirrors and angle. Thank you for you help so far
It's probably too late for your deadline, but the first one is just the law of reflection (\theta_i = \theta_r) with a little triangle geometry thrown in.
supermenscher
Jul16-04, 10:01 AM
thank u doc al
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