A ray of light is incident on mirror m1 and after reflection is incident on mirror m2 as shown in the diagram, calculate the angle of reflection of the ray ...
A ray of light is incident on mirror m1 and after reflection is incident on mirror m2 as shown in the diagram, calculate the angle of reflection of the ray at mirror m2
Answer Details
To calculate the angle of reflection of the ray at mirror m2, we need to first understand the concept of angle of incidence and angle of reflection. When a light ray strikes a surface, the angle between the incident ray and the normal (a line perpendicular to the surface) is called the angle of incidence. The angle between the reflected ray and the normal is called the angle of reflection. According to the law of reflection, the angle of incidence is always equal to the angle of reflection. In this diagram, we can see that the incident ray strikes mirror m1 at an angle of 60o with the normal. Using the law of reflection, we know that the reflected ray will be reflected at an angle of 60o with the normal. Now, this reflected ray becomes the incident ray for mirror m2. The angle between this incident ray and the normal is 30o (since the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection). Therefore, using the law of reflection again, we can say that the angle of reflection for this ray at mirror m2 will also be 30o. Hence, the answer is 30o.