AP Unit 13 Problems

Draw or describe the incident rays relative to the wavefronts. Specify arrows and explain why the ray model is suitable here.

The same coherent, approximately monochromatic laser is redirected through a slit comparable to its wavelength and forms bright and dark bands on a screen. State what coherent and monochromatic mean, explain which source properties remain, and explain why rays alone fail to predict the bands.

Find the incidence and reflection angles for the flat surface and draw an arrowed incident/reflected pair with a normal.

Compare the reflected bundles from the smooth flat surface and rough sheet. Explain in terms of normals whether the law still holds.

Find f, d_i, magnification, and signed image height; classify the image.

Construct the three principal rays to locate the image tip. Clearly distinguish the vertex ray from a center-of-curvature ray.

Calculate signed image distances and magnifications for all three mirrors. Create a comparison table including focal length, d_i, m, real/virtual type, orientation, relative size, and physical image side.

Describe the convex mirror’s parallel-ray behavior and the backward-extension construction. Could a screen behind the mirror receive its image?

Find the incidence angle to the normal, transmitted angle, speed, and wavelength in glass. State whether frequency changes.

If the incoming beam is changed to normal incidence, compare its direction, speed, and wavelength in the glass with those of the original transmitted beam.

Derive the critical-angle expression from Snell’s law and calculate it.

For incident angles 30.0°, θ_c, and 50.0°, draw or describe transmitted and reflected paths in the ideal model.

A student predicts the same critical angle for air-to-block travel. Evaluate the claim.

Find image position, magnification, and signed height. State screen placement and image description.

Construct the image with the three principal rays. Mark both focal points and identify which focus each relevant ray uses.

Find both image distances and magnifications. Explain why both images are virtual but differ in size.

Describe the diverging-lens parallel ray and center ray, including backward extensions. Describe a third principal ray as a check.

Design a procedure that changes the incident angle while keeping the material, flat-face entry or exit point, and unwanted curved-face refraction controlled. Explain why passage normal to the curved face prevents unwanted directional bending. State how you would also check reflection at the flat face.

Choose a sine transformation that makes the refraction data linear, then construct the quantitative graph using all three data pairs. Label both axes as dimensionless sine values, show numerical scales and points, and draw a best-fit line. Use its slope to estimate the block index. Discuss why very small angles can be poor measurements.

How could the same block test a critical-angle prediction? Give the required travel direction and observations at and above the prediction.

Create a comparison table with one row for each system and columns for f, d_i, m, real/virtual type, orientation, relative size, and physical side. Explain why equal algebraic results can locate images on different physical sides.

Describe how the vertex/center principal ray differs for a mirror and a thin lens, and how the parallel principal ray behaves in each converging system.

Derive a linear graph form by rearranging the thin-lens equation. Construct a quantitative reciprocal-distance graph using all three data pairs, with labeled axes, units, numerical scales, plotted points, and a fit line. Use its slope and intercept to estimate focal length and check the model. Explain why the screen images are real.

State a hands-on procedure for collecting such data and estimating uncertainty. Predict the image when d_o is changed to 8.00 cm and explain how to observe it.

The center ray is modeled as straight, although refraction occurs at a lens’s surfaces. Explain this approximation and name a change that would make a simple thin-lens construction less reliable.