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LAB IV (OPTICS)

PRACTICAL COPY

Submitted To:
Respected Sir Kazim Shah

Submitted By:
Minal Zia

Roll Number:
J5F18ASPM0003

Course Title:
LAB IV (OPTICS)

Department:
ADS (DM)

Semester:
IV
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL PUNJAB
JALAL PUR JATTAN

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Contents:-

PRACTICAL NO. # 1:-

 TO FIND THE VERTICAL DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO POINTS USING SEXTANT

PRACTICAL NO. # 2:-

 WHAT IS SEXTANT, ITS TYPES AND PRINCIPLE

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PRACTICAL NO. # 1:-

TO FIND THE VERTICAL DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO POINTS

USING SEXTANT

Apparatus:
1. A sextant
2. Chalk pieces of two different colors
3. A rigid clamp stand a measuring tape,
4. A plumb line
5. A spirit level

Description of Sextant:

Sextant is an optical instrument as shown in Fig. and is meant to measure angles.

It consists of a graduated circular arc about 60° having two radial fixed arms A and
B. There is another arm known as third moving arm C (index arm) that moves over
the circular graduated scale. It carries a vernier scale V on one side and plane
mirror M₁ is perpendicular to the plane of arc. A second mirror M₂ called the
horizon glass is fixed to the arm A whose lower half is silvered while upper half is
transparent. The plane of this mirror is also perpendicular to the circular arc. A
telescope T is fitted to the arm B with its axis perpendicular to the horizon glass.
The telescope receives the direct rays through the transparent portion of M₂ and
twice reflected rays from M₁ and M₂.

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Working Principle:
The distant object is viewed directly through the clean parts of mirrors M₂ and
then the movable arm is so rotated that the mirror M₁ and M₂ become parallel. In
this position the telescope receives the rays from distant object in two paths.
The movable arm containing mirror M₁ is moved such that the rays
coming directly from P towards telescope and rays coming through the paths RM₁,
M₁, M₂ and M₂T coincide with each other. The angle RM₁Q is the angle between
the directions of the two objects, which is twice the angle BM₁C. To facilitate this
circular scale is directly marked as twice the actual degrees.

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Theory:
If h is the vertical distance between two points X and Y and θ is the angle
subtended by XY at the index glass M₁ of the sextant at a distance d then

h/d = tanθ
This is true only when M₁Y is perpendicular to XY.

Procedure:
1) Find the vernier constant or the least count of the sextant.
2) Mark a horizontal arrow nearly 10cm long on the wall with a colored chalk
at a height of about 1 meter from the floor. Mark another horizontal arrow
vertically above it near the ceiling.
3) Place a rigid clamp stand at a distance of nearly 5 meter from the wall.
Clamp the sextant in the stand with the scale downwards and the objective
of the telescope pointing horizontally towards the lower mar. Adjust the
height of the sextant so that the axis of the telescopes horizontal and is at
the same level, as the lower mark Y of the ground. Test with a spirit level.
With the help of a plumb line adjust the plane of the scale to be vertical.
Move the telescope sideways by the screw at its side so that the line of
demarcation of the silvered and un-silvered portions of the horizons glass
M2 lies in the centre of the telescope objective.
4) Focus the telescope on the lower mark Y and adjust the position of the
sextant so that the image of the horizontal arrow is in the centre of the
field of view. This is the direct image as seen in the telescope.

5) Move the arm CD so that the image of the same horizontal arrow is also
visible in the telescope after reflection from the two mirrors. This will
happen when the vernier reading is nearly zero and the instrument is in
proper adjustment. If the reflected image is not in the field of viewer does
not concide with the direct image, the horizon glass is not perpendicular to
the plane of the scale. To adjust this, work the small screw provided on the
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 carriage of the horizon glass till the two images lie one above the other. If
the two images seen are not of the same brightness, it can be adjusted by
moving the telescope sideways with the help of the screw provided at the
side of the telescope.
6) When the two images of the mark Y overlap, note the reading on the scale.
7) Keeping the eye in the same position move the arm CD. One-half of the
field of view will appear to slide past the other half and ultimately the
image of the upper arrow will appear to approach the direct stationary
image. Note the scale reading when the two images again overlap.
8) Measure the distance from the lower arrow to the index mirror by a
measuring tape.
9) Repeat the experiment with three different distances of the sextant from
the lower arrow.

PRACTICAL NO. #
Definition:-
2:-
A sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation
WHAT IS instrument used to measure altitude or the angle
SEXTANT, between any two visible objects. Sextant is one of the
ITS TYPES oldest navigation instruments used by mariners, it’s
AND called sextant because its arc is 1/6th of a circle i.e. 60°
but it can measure angles up to 120° using double
PRINCIPLE
reflection principle. 

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Types of Sextant:
There are two types of sextant are as follows:
 Micrometer Sextant
 Vernier Sextant

Comparison between the types of Sextants:

 Construction and operating principle of both sextants are same. In both
sextants, whole degrees are read on the arc of the sextant.
 The only difference lies in the way the fraction of a degree are read.
 As the name suggests, in vernier sextant, it is read by the vernier
whereas in Micrometer sextant, it is read on the micrometer screw.
 Currently, vernier sextants are rarely used.
 On the micrometer drum, a degree may be divided into 100 parts or 60
parts.
 The fraction of a degree therefore can either be read in 1/100 th of a
degree, or up to 1/60th of a degree (which comes to one minute of arc).

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Principle of Sextant:
 When a ray of light is twice reflected by two mirrors in the same plane, the
angle between the original incident ray and the final emergent ray is twice
the angle between the mirrors. OR we could say that
 When a ray of light is reflected twice by two mirrors in the same plane , the
angle between the incident and reflected ray is twice the angle between
the mirrors.
 Sextant has two mirrors, one of them fixed on the body of the sextant and
the other is fixed on the index arm which is called the pivot and changes its
angle with the fixed mirror.
 In the diagram above, the altitude of object X is angle XEH.
 Which is measured by movement of Mirror H through angle b, which is half
the angle XEH.