Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • The Concept of Solid Angle

    Uploaded by

    thaytsu
    33 views2 pages
    The concept of solid angle and the term steradian are a bit mysterious if not perplexing. An ordinary angle can be conceived of without reference to a reference circle. A solid angle cannot be properly understood without reference to an arbitrary sphere.

    Original Description:

    Copyright

    © Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document
    The concept of solid angle and the term steradian are a bit mysterious if not perplexing. An ordinary angle can be conceived of without reference to a reference circle. A solid angle cannot be properly understood without reference to an arbitrary sphere.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    33 views2 pages

    The Concept of Solid Angle

    Uploaded by

    thaytsu
    The concept of solid angle and the term steradian are a bit mysterious if not perplexing. An ordinary angle can be conceived of without reference to a reference circle. A solid angle cannot be properly understood without reference to an arbitrary sphere.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 2

    The Concept of Solid Angle

    To people aquainted with ordinary angles the concept of solid angle and the term steradian are a bit mysterious if not perplexing. We know what a 90 angle looks like and even if 90 is called /2 radians we are not troubled. With solid angles it is a different matter. The problem lies in the fact that an ordinary angle can be conceived of without reference to an arbitrary reference circle but a solid angle cannot be properly understood without reference to an arbitrary sphere. First let us consider an ordinary angle and a reference circle. The angle may be defined in terms of the arc shown below. Let s be the length of that arc and r the radius of the circle.

    The angle in radians is given by

    = (s/r)

    = (s/r) or, in degrees = (360/2)(s/r)

    Now consider a cone which intersects the sphere of radius R. Let S be the area of surface subtended by the intersection of the cone and the sphere.

    The solid angle is defined to be

    = (S/r)

    This is the solid angle in steradians. If the surface covers the whole sphere then the number of steradians is 4. If one knows the solid angle in steradians then the area of the surface of intersection for any sphere of radius R is given by:

    You might also like