Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Where did the author get "the prism equation" from?

Hi haa12renaissance,
That equation is derived from Snell's law based on the geometry of the prism. It is sometimes called the "prism equation". You can find references by searching for the term:
"prism equation" "minimum deviation".
Physics for Scientists and Engineers by Lawrence S. Lerner is one reference that ought to pop up.
http://books.google.com/books?id=B8K_ym ... &ct=result
Let us know if you have any problems finding that.
Chris

How could equation (4) be modified?

I believe you would divide both sides by 2.00056, take the inverse sine of both sides, and then some additional algebra.
Does that help? Good luck!
Chris

Wouldn't distant L remain the same no matter how distant x changes?

Hi haa12renaissance,

Yes, L can be kept constant.

You can reference this site as the Science Buddies "Ask an Expert" bulletin board, https://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/phpBB3/

Exactly how would L be kept constant?

Exactly how would L be kept constant?

Hi haa12renaissance,

If you look at item #5, under Figure 6, the sheet of paper taped to the table under the table, should allow you to keep L constant. An alternative is to keep the distance between the prism and the wall constant (between e and b in Figure 6). It should be easy to accomplish this, by taping paper on the table or measuring the distance and adjusting.

I believe if you follow the above, it will answer your other questions.

Hi haa12renaissance,

Ah I missed this first time out: the same question "How do you keep L constant is addressed both here and in the "Keeping L constant..." topic. As you can imagine, a dual posting can lead to confusion and needs to be avoided.

I don't think there was much harm here, but please try to avoid the dual posting in the future. Thanks.

Hi haa12renaissance,
I have merged your separate topic about the constant L issue with this thread so that the experts can follow your experiment and questions. As David mentioned, please keep questions related to this project in this topic by use the "Post Reply" button. Thanks!
Chris