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ronny45
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[SOLVED] Light Refracted Through A Prism
Two parallel rays enter the longest side of a prism of refractive index 1.52. The prism is isosceles in shape and has angles of 23, 23 and 134 degrees. Assuming that the rays enter the prism on either side of the perpenical divider (ie at least half of the length of the prism side between them) what is the measure of the angle between the two emerging rays?
n1sin(theta1)=n2sin(theta2)
My biggest problem is that I'm not sure how to deal with the unknown angle of incidence or refraction. If I take n(air) = 1, then the above equation would read sin(angle of incidence)/sin(angle of refraction)=1.52 which just gives me another wording of Snell's Law. I've tried dealing with only half of the prism so I have a right-angled triangle with angles 23 and 67, but in truth I'm really not sure how to even approach this. Any help at all would be great. Thanks!
Homework Statement
Two parallel rays enter the longest side of a prism of refractive index 1.52. The prism is isosceles in shape and has angles of 23, 23 and 134 degrees. Assuming that the rays enter the prism on either side of the perpenical divider (ie at least half of the length of the prism side between them) what is the measure of the angle between the two emerging rays?
Homework Equations
n1sin(theta1)=n2sin(theta2)
The Attempt at a Solution
My biggest problem is that I'm not sure how to deal with the unknown angle of incidence or refraction. If I take n(air) = 1, then the above equation would read sin(angle of incidence)/sin(angle of refraction)=1.52 which just gives me another wording of Snell's Law. I've tried dealing with only half of the prism so I have a right-angled triangle with angles 23 and 67, but in truth I'm really not sure how to even approach this. Any help at all would be great. Thanks!