Flag General Physics> deviation...
question mark

what is the angle of deviation of a plane mirror?

nivedhitha mathan kumar , 15 Years ago
Grade
anser 5 Answers
Kishore IIT Bombay

Dear Nivedhitha,

A ray of light that is incident on to the surface of a plane-mirror is reflected with the angle of incidence equal to the angle of reflection. Suppose that the ray had continued, through the mirror, in a straight line it would make an angle θ with the surface of the mirror. The total angle between the straight-line path and the reflected ray is twice the angle of incidence. This is called the deviation of the light and measures the angle at which the light has strayed from its initial straight-line path.

A ray of light that is incident on to the surface of a plane-mirror is reflected with the angle of incidence equal to the angle of reflection. Suppose that the ray had continued, through the mirror, in a straight line it would make an angle θ with the surface of the mirror. The total angle between the straight-line path and the reflected ray is twice the angle of incidence. This is called the deviation of the light and measures the angle at which the light has strayed from its initial straight-line path.

"The deviation of a mirror is equal to twice the angle of incidence"

i will give the figure for the above one..

1119_17043_deviation.gif

in the above figure The deviation of light is twice the angle of incidence.

Please feel free to post as many doubts on our discussion forum as you can.
If you find any question Difficult to understand - post it here and we will get you the answer and detailed
solution very  quickly.

We are all IITians and here to help you in your IIT JEE  & AIEEE preparation.

All the best..

regards,

Kishore -iit bombay

Last Activity: 15 Years ago
Barni Kassyapa
BUT then mam, angle of incidence has to be calculated wit the normal and not with the surface right? Pls clarify me...
Last Activity: 10 Years ago
Amernath s
Yes, angle of incidence should be calculated wth the normal, because the angle between the incident ray and te normal is called angle of incidence.
Last Activity: 10 Years ago
ANURAG
U just double the angle of incidence or reflection which is given and hence you will get the angle of deviation. And if you want to find the angle of incidence for a prism then you can subtract two times of angle of incidence from 180 degree and you will get the angle of deviation
Last Activity: 9 Years ago
Pavan
Deviation caused by single reflection =180-2i.        (i=angle of incidence ) this is the formula for the given question NIVEDHITHA
Last Activity: 7 Years ago
star
LIVE ONLINE CLASSES

Prepraring for the competition made easy just by live online class.

tv

Full Live Access

material

Study Material

removal

Live Doubts Solving

assignment

Daily Class Assignments