Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2010/paper-1/section-a/2/solution
Past exam of the physics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2010 Paper 1 Section A 2 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
For prism sweep under different rotation conventions, let the apex angle be . Snell's law at both faces givesHere is measured from the second face's outward normal, whereas is the deviation from the incident direction. The two settings giveFor a fixed laser and rotating prism, the outgoing beam therefore sweepsIf instead the prism stays fixed and the input beam is steered, its exit-face normal stays fixed and the answer is . The source does not explicitly say which component moves, so the laboratory-angle convention matters. Both settings transmit through the second face; total internal reflection does not occur.
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