A beam of light is incident upon a flat piece of glass (n = 1.50) at an angle of incidence of 30.00. Part of the beam is transmitted and part is reflected. Determine the angle between the reflected and transmitted rays

130.528779365 degrees

Explanation:

The angle of incidence is 30 degrees. From this, we can use Snell's Law to calculate the angle of refraction.

n1/n2 = sin (theta2) / sin (theta1)

let theta1 be 30 degrees, and n1 be the refractive index of air = 1

1/1.5 = sin (theta2) / sin (30deg)

solve:

sin (theta2) = 2/3 sin (30deg) = 1/3

theta2 = arcsin (1/3) = 19.4712206345 degrees

The angle of reflection will always be equal to the angle of incidence, in this case, 30 degrees.

Because these angles are measured relative to the normal, the angle formed between the two rays is the difference between the normal line (180 degrees) and the sum of the two angle measures.

Angle between = 180-30-19.4712206345 = 130.528779365 degrees