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In an experiment designed to measure the speed of light, a laser isaimed at a mi

ID: 1671922 • Letter: I

Question

In an experiment designed to measure the speed of light, a laser isaimed at a mirror that is 54.0 km due north. A detector is placed107 m due east of the laser. The mirror is to be aligned so thatlight from the laser refelects into thedetector. (a) When properly aligned,what angle should the normal to the surface of the mirror make withdue south? (b) Suppose the mirror ismisaligned, so that the actual angle between the normal to thesurface and due south is too large by 0.0020°. By how manymeters (due east) will the reflected ray miss the detector?

Explanation / Answer


a) we have          tan =107 / 54 x 103
                 = 1.981 x 10-3
==> = 0.11350 Therefore the angle should be normal to the surface ofthe mirror make with due south
                    = / 2 = 0.056o
b) given that
        =0.0020o
The missed angle = 2 * 0.002 = 0.004o
The distance missed is
    d = ( 540002 +1072 ) * 0.004 * 3.14 / 180
       = 3.168 m
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