Aim: To investigate the relationship between the angle of incidence and the angle

or refraction and the sine of the relative angles to determine the refractive index
of Perspex glass using the gradient and Snells Law.
Diagram: Label Ray, < of incidence, < or refraction, Perspex glass, normal,
medium labelled, angles correctly measured with protractor. 4 data points gained
Graph : theta i vs theta r, sin i vs sin r, theta i and theta are graph was curved
which corresponded to our theoretical results and from this we can observe that
it is only after we sine the angles that we can attain a linear refractive index
which corresponds to theoretical results.
Refractive index of Perspex is on average 1.4893 find refractive index of
experimental Perspex and calculate %accuracy.
Axes and titles drawn in pen, points and lines drawn in pencil.
Validity and statement: The experiment was mostly valid in the sense that it
allowed us to successfully calculate the refractive index of Perspex glass as
1.63 (e.g.) and demonstrates the relationship of the sine the angles of incident
and refraction within Snells law. (maybe include: However, in order to increase
the validity of the experiment more variables should be controlled if possible as
more uncontrolled variables can potentially compromise internal validity. To
achieve this differing angles of incidence and refraction should be calculated off
the same points of the glass to control the variable of inconsistencies along the
glass.)
Errors: Experimental errors include the dispersion of coherent white light, the
angle approximation of the protractor, inconsistencies in the glass Perspex itself.
The incoherent light is incoherent provided in the experiment naturally disperses
making it harder to accurately record and measure the angle of incidence and
refraction of the rays. This reduces the accuracy of the final refractive index
calculated which only measures the refractive index post-averaging the
cumulation of experimental errors which overall detracts from the precision of
the experiment. To improve the accuracy in this sense, laser light can be used as
it is thinner than the ray beams and coherent which makes it less prone to
dispersion and hence allows for more precise results, improving the accuracy of
the experiment.
The plastic protractors provided only measure the angles of incidence and
refraction correct to a degree which cumulatively decreases the accuracy of the
experiment, skewing the line of best fit to an extent. To account for this, digital
protractors can be used to provide significantly more accurate results to improve
the accuracy and reliability of the experiment.
The experiment was fairly accurate as the errors were evenly spread however it
could be significantly improved through the means mentioned above. The
experiment was partially reliable due to the collection of multiple data points,

however the overall reliability of the experiment is quite poor and can be
significantly improved by repeating the experiment with more points.