2 plane mirrors are at a right angle facing each other. A laser is beamed into one of the mirrors at an incident angle of 30 degrees will the reflected beam hit the mirror? If so, at what incident angle? Explain.
Yes, the laser beam will be reflected by the first plane mirror and hit the second plane mirror.
When a laser beam strikes a plane mirror, it follows the law of reflection. According to this law, the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection. In this case, the incident angle is 30 degrees. Since the two mirrors are at a right angle to each other, the direction of reflection will be perpendicular to the incident direction.
So, the laser beam will be reflected at an angle of 90 degrees from the first mirror. Since the second mirror is positioned to face the first mirror, the laser beam will hit the second mirror at a 90-degree incident angle.
To determine whether the reflected beam from the first mirror will hit the second mirror, we need to consider the angle of incidence and the laws of reflection.
The laws of reflection state that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection. In this case, the incident angle on the first mirror is given as 30 degrees.
Since the first mirror is at a right angle to the second mirror, the reflected beam from the first mirror will be perpendicular to the second mirror. The incident angle on the second mirror will be measured relative to this perpendicular direction.
Since the second mirror is perpendicular to the first mirror, the angle of incidence measured relative to the perpendicular will also be 90 degrees.
Therefore, the reflected beam from the first mirror will hit the second mirror, and the incident angle on the second mirror will be 90 degrees.