With an ideal corner cube, the reflected ray is precisely parallel to the incide

Question

With an ideal corner cube, the reflected ray is precisely parallel to the incident ray. No corner cube will ever be perfect, however. The astronauts who visited the Moon left corner cubes so that scientists can do experiments in which light is reflected from the Moon and back to the Earth. Suppose one of these corner cubes has an angle of ? = 90.00002

With an ideal corner cube, the reflected ray is precisely parallel to the incident ray. No corner cube will ever be perfect, however. The astronauts who visited the Moon left corner cubes so that scientists can do experiments in which light is reflected from the Moon and back to the Earth. Suppose one of these corner cubes has an angle of ? = 90.00002 degree (see the following figure). By what distance will the reflected ray miss its target on the Earth? m

Explanation / Answer

Using the limiting case where the laser beam just grazes one side the

angle between the incident ray and the reflected ray will be

2 * .00002 deg = .00004 deg

.00004 deg = 6.981 * 10E-7 rad

s = 6.981 * 10E-7 * 2.39 * 10E5 mi = .167 mi = 881 ft

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse W
• Subjects

---

---

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.