Light Refracted Through A Prism

  • Thread starter Thread starter ronny45
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Light Prism
AI Thread Summary
Two parallel rays enter an isosceles prism with a refractive index of 1.52 and angles of 23, 23, and 134 degrees. The rays enter perpendicular to the longest side, resulting in no deviation upon entry. The angle of incidence on the opposite face is 23 degrees, leading to the calculation of the angle of refraction and the angle of deviation for one ray. The total angle between the two emerging rays is double the deviation angle. Clarification on assumptions regarding the entry angle is necessary for accurate calculations.
ronny45
Messages
20
Reaction score
0
[SOLVED] Light Refracted Through A Prism

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!
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Suppose two parallel rays enter the longest side of a prism of refractive index 1.52 perpendicular to the longest side. They enter the prism without deviation.The angle of incedence on the other face is equal to 23 degree. Find the angle of refraction and angle of deviation for one ray. Double the deviation is the angle between the refracted rays.
 
This is where I had trouble... I wasn't sure I could assume that the rays were perpendicular to the prism, since the question doesn't specifically state this.
 
Sorry, my mistake, must read question more carefully! Thank you!
 
i didnt get it...
 
I multiplied the values first without the error limit. Got 19.38. rounded it off to 2 significant figures since the given data has 2 significant figures. So = 19. For error I used the above formula. It comes out about 1.48. Now my question is. Should I write the answer as 19±1.5 (rounding 1.48 to 2 significant figures) OR should I write it as 19±1. So in short, should the error have same number of significant figures as the mean value or should it have the same number of decimal places as...
Thread 'A cylinder connected to a hanging mass'
Let's declare that for the cylinder, mass = M = 10 kg Radius = R = 4 m For the wall and the floor, Friction coeff = ##\mu## = 0.5 For the hanging mass, mass = m = 11 kg First, we divide the force according to their respective plane (x and y thing, correct me if I'm wrong) and according to which, cylinder or the hanging mass, they're working on. Force on the hanging mass $$mg - T = ma$$ Force(Cylinder) on y $$N_f + f_w - Mg = 0$$ Force(Cylinder) on x $$T + f_f - N_w = Ma$$ There's also...
Back
Top