The angle of incidence of the light was reduced by 10 degrees. How has the angle between the incident
The angle of incidence of the light was reduced by 10 degrees. How has the angle between the incident and reflected rays changed?
The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection. This physical law is formulated specifically for a flat reflecting surface.
The simplest illustration is a line and another at an angle to it, denoting an incident ray, which touches it at one point and goes up at the same angle.
Therefore, the angle between the incident and reflected rays of light will always be equal –
180 ° (degrees) minus twice the angle of the incident ray (do not forget: the angles of incidence and reflection are equal!).
Let us denote the angle between the incident and reflected rays for our case through the expression:
180 ° – 2x ° (where x ° is the angle of incidence).
Based on it, the answer to the question posed in the assignment is clear:
with a decrease in the angle of incidence by 10, the angle between the beams will increase by 20 °. 180 ° – 2 * (x ° – 10 °) = (180 ° – 2x °) + 20 °.