Answer:
Furthermore, the Pythagorean theorem works when the two added vectors are at right angles to one another - such as for adding a north vector and an east vector.
Answer:
calar quantity, length of path. displacement: vector quanity, "as the crow flies" difference between start and finish regardless of path taken. Term.
Explanation:
For help with this answer, we look to Newton's second law of motion:
Force = (mass) x (acceleration)
Since the question seems to focus on acceleration, let's get
'acceleration' all alone on one side of the equation, so we can
really see what's going on.
Here's the equation again:
Force = (mass) x (acceleration)
Divide each side by 'mass',
and we have: Acceleration = (force) / (mass) .
Now the answer jumps out at us: The rate of acceleration of an object
is determined by the object's mass and by the strength of the net force
acting on the object.
Light that enters the new medium <em>perpendicular to the surface</em> keeps sailing straight through the new medium unrefracted (in the same direction).
Perpendicular to the surface is the "normal" to the surface. So the angle of incidence (angle between the laser and the normal) is zero, and the law of refraction (just like the law of reflection) predicts an angle of zero between the normal and the refracted (or the reflected) beam.
Moral of the story: If you want your laser to keep going in the same direction after it enters the water, or to bounce back in the same direction it came from when it hits the mirror, then shoot it <em>straight on</em> to the surface, perpendicular to it.
