So the passage states that a retroreflecting bead return light rays on a path no farther than the diameter of a bead from the source ray... thus, if a distrotion that changes the path of light...the ray perfectly retraces itself, thus canceling the distortion.
The question asks, what is the approximate number of wavelengths of light that can travel in 1 direction within a retroreflecting bead with diameter 5*10^-5 m. (speed of light is 3*10^8 and frequency of light is 10^15).
The way to do the problem is to use c=wavelength * frequency and solving for wavelength. Then divide the diamete by the wavelength found. I solved this, but intuitively I'm not sure what is happening. What exactly is meant by the number of wavelengths and what does diameter of the bead have to do with finding this number? Thanks.
The question asks, what is the approximate number of wavelengths of light that can travel in 1 direction within a retroreflecting bead with diameter 5*10^-5 m. (speed of light is 3*10^8 and frequency of light is 10^15).
The way to do the problem is to use c=wavelength * frequency and solving for wavelength. Then divide the diamete by the wavelength found. I solved this, but intuitively I'm not sure what is happening. What exactly is meant by the number of wavelengths and what does diameter of the bead have to do with finding this number? Thanks.
