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Q.State Brewster's law. Show that the reflected ray and refracted ray are perpendicular to each other when the angle of incidence is equal to polarizing angle. OR State Huygens' wave principles. Using the principles, verify the law of reflection of light.

Meghalaya MboseMBOSE Meghalaya Intermediate Board 2020Subjective· 3mImportance★★★★★
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Primary: combining Snell's law with the defining tangent relation of Brewster's angle shows the reflected and refracted rays must add up to a right angle. Alternative: comparing the geometry of incident and reflected Huygens wavefronts (congruent triangles) forces angle of incidence to equal angle of reflection.

Primary — Brewster's law and perpendicularity of reflected/refracted rays

Brewster's law: tan⁡θB=μ\tan\theta_B = \mu where θB\theta_B is the polarizing (Brewster's) angle and μ\mu the refractive index of the medium.

Proof of perpendicularity: By Snell's law, sin⁡θB=μsin⁡r\sin\theta_B = \mu\sin r (where rr is the angle of refraction). Also, tan⁡θB=μ=sin⁡θB/cos⁡θB\tan\theta_B=\mu=\sin\theta_B/\cos\theta_B. Equating the two expressions for μ\mu:

sin⁡θBcos⁡θB=sin⁡θBsin⁡r  ⟹  sin⁡r=cos⁡θB=sin⁡(90∘−θB)\frac{\sin\theta_B}{\cos\theta_B} = \frac{\sin\theta_B}{\sin r} \implies \sin r = \cos\theta_B = \sin(90^\circ-\theta_B)

  ⟹  r=90∘−θB  ⟹  θB+r=90∘\implies r = 90^\circ - \theta_B \implies \theta_B + r = 90^\circ

Since the angle of reflection equals θB\theta_B (law of reflection) and the angle of refraction is rr, and θB+r=90∘\theta_B+r=90^\circ, the reflected ray and the refracted ray are separated by exactly 90∘90^\circ — they are mutually perpendicular.

Alternative (Or) — Law of reflection from Huygens' principle

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