Question

1. The statement about Newton's reflecting telescope contains 1 error. Find the error, write it, and

replace it with the correct information.
Refracting telescopes distort the color of light. Newton thought that refracting telescopes
distorted light in the same way that prisms did. Newton also believed that a reflecting telescope
would not distort the color, because mirrors do not shift the wavelengths of the incoming light.
Through his efforts, Newton created the first reflecting telescope. Light enters the telescope and
reflects off a rough convex mirror at the back of the telescope. This light then is reflected to a
smooth, flat diagonal mirror, which then reflects the light out to the eyepiece. * 1
(1 Point)
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Answer 1

i. The error is the rough convex mirror.

ii. This should be replaced with a smooth convex morror.

Step-by-step explanation:

Reflection is dependent on the surface involved and has two types; diffuse and specular. When the surface is rough, diffused reflection is observed. The surface causes a distortion of the incident light (the rays would be reflected at different angles to one another) after reflection. This makes some rays to interfere with one another. While specular reflection is observed with a smooth surface.

In the statement, the rough convex mirror would produce a distorted reflection which would produce diffused reflection. The effect is that few or no rays (depending on the degree of how rough the surfce is) would be reflected to the other smooth, flat diagonal mirror.