We got into bit discussion in a lab about how exactly polarimeteres work. The problem we encountered is that how exactly does polarimeter distinguish between lets say +350° or -10°? I was thinking that the detector measures up to +180° and whatever is higher gets reverted into the -part. ie. +190° is shown as -170° but this was disproved by a collegue who told that there are compounds with specific rotation above 360°
thx