A thin prism is constructed from a material with refractive indices of 1.61 and 1.65 for red and violet light, respectively. The material's dispersive power is 0.07 . Under favourable conditions, a yellow light beam passing through the prism experiences a minimum deviation of 4.0^ . Determine the angle of the prism.

Step-by-step solution

The dispersive power of the prism material is given by the formula: = _v - _r _y - 1 Substituting the given values: 0.07 = 1.65 - 1.61 _y - 1 _y - 1 = 0.04 0.07 = 4 7 For a thin prism, the deviation for yellow light is given by: _y = ( _y - 1)A Given that _y = 4.0^ , we can find the angle of the prism A : 4.0^ = ( 4 7 ) A A = 4.0^ 7 4 = 7.0^