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) Consider a beam of light traveling from a medium with a low index of refraction n1 to a new medium with a higher index of refraction n2. U
Question
) Consider a beam of light traveling from a medium with a low index of refraction n1 to a new medium with a higher index of refraction n2. Use Snell’s Law to explain why total internal reflection will never occur in this situation, regardless of the choice of the incident angle.
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Physics
5 years
2021-09-05T12:24:30+00:00
2021-09-05T12:24:30+00:00 1 Answers
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Answer:
Snell’s law says that
n1*sin(a1) = n2*sin(a2)
n1 < n2
son n2/n1 > 1
then:
sin(a1) = (n2/n1)sin(a2)
the maximum possible value of sin(x) is 1 when x =90°
total internal reflection means that a2= 90°
but as the coefficient that is multiplying sin(a2) is bigger than 1, we can not have a2 = 90°, because the right side will be greater than 1 and the left side can not be bigger than 1, so we can not have a2 = 90°, so we can not have total internal reflection