Sample Problems for Snell's Law Important Information Snell's Law describes how light bends when traveling

from one medium to the next. Mathematically, it is stated as

n1 sin

1=

n2 sin

2.

where ni represents the index of refraction in medium i, and the normal in medium i.

represents the angle the light makes with

Sample Problem 1: Light travels from air into an optical fiber with an index of refraction of 1.44. (a) In which direction does the light bend? (b) If the angle of incidence on the end of the fiber is 22o, what is the angle of refraction inside the fiber? (c) Sketch the path of light as it changes media. Solution: (a) Since the light is traveling from a rarer region (lower n) to a denser region (higher n), it will bend toward the normal. (b) We will identify air as medium 1 and the fiber as medium 2. Thus, n1 = 1.00, n2 = 1.44, and /font>1 = 22o. Snell's Law then becomes (1.00) sin 22o = 1.44 sin 2. sin 2 = (1.00/1.44) sin 22o = 0.260 -1 o 2 = sin (0.260) = 15 . (c) The path of the light is shown in the figure below.

Sample Problem 2: Light traveling through an optical fiber (n=1.44) reaches the end of the fiber and exits into air. (a) If the angle of incidence on the end of the fiber is 30o, what is the angle of refraction outside the fiber? (b) How would your answer be different if the angle of incidence were 50o? Solution: (a) Since the light is now traveling from the fiber into air, we will call the fiber material 1 and air material 2. Thus, n1 = 1.44, n2 = 1.00, and 1 = 30o. Snell's Law then becomes

(1.44) sin 30o = 1.00 sin 2. sin 2 = (1.44/1.00) sin 30o = 1.44 (0.500) = 0.720 -1 o 2 = sin (0.720) = 46 . Notice that this time, the angle of refraction is larger than the angle of incidence. The light is bending away from the normal as it enters a rarer material. (b) Replacing the angle of incidence with 50o gives sin 2 = (1.44/1.00) sin 50o = 1.44 (0.766) = 1.103 This equality cannot be met, so light cannot exit the fiber under these conditions. A beam of light travels from water into a piece of diamond in the shape of a triangle, as shown in the diagram. Step-by-step, follow the beam until it emerges from the piece of diamond.

(a) How fast is the light traveling inside the piece of diamond? The speed can be calculated from the index of refraction:

(b) What is , the angle between the normal and the beam of light inside the diamond at the waterdiamond interface? A diagram helps for this. In fact, let's look at the complete diagram of the whole path, and use this for the rest of the questions.

The angle we need can be found from Snell's law:

(c) The beam travels up to the air-diamond interface. What is , the angle between the normal and the beam of light inside the diamond at the air-diamond interface? This is found using a bit of geometry. All you need to know is that the sum of the three angles inside a triangle is 180. If is 24.9, this means that the third angle in that triangle must be 25.1. So:

(d) What is the critical angle for the diamond-air interface?

(e) What happens to the light at the diamond-air interface? Because the angle of incidence (64.9) is larger than the critical angle, the light is totally reflected internally. (f) The light is reflected off the interface, obeying the law of reflection. It then strikes the diamond-water interface. What happens to it here? Again, the place to start is by determining the angle of incidence, . A little geometry shows that:

The critical angle at this interface is :

Because the angle of incidence is less than the critical angle, the beam will escape from the piece of diamond here. The angle of refraction can be found from Snell's law:

A ray of light in air is approaching the boundary with water at an angle of 52 degrees. Determine the angle of refraction of the light ray. Refer to the table of indices of refraction if necessary. Solution to Problem A The solution to this problem begins like any problem: a diagram is constructed to assist in the visualization of the physical situation, the known values are listed, and the unknown value (desired quantity) is identified. This is shown below: Diagram: Given: Find: ni = 1.00 (from table) =?? nr = 1.333 (from table) = 52 degrees Now list the relevant equation (Snell's Law), substitute known values into the equation, and perform the proper algebraic steps to solve for the unknown. 1.00 * sine (52 degrees) = 1.333 * sine (theta r) 0.7880 = 1.333 * sine (theta r) 0.591 = sine (theta r) -1 sine (0.591) = sine-1 ( sine (theta r)) 36.2 degrees = theta r Proper algebra yields the answer of 36.2 degrees for the angle of refraction. When finished, it is always a wise idea to apply the FST and SFA principles as a check of your numerical answer. In this problem, the light ray is traveling from aless optically dense or fast medium (air) into a more optically dense or slow medium (water), and so the light ray should refract towards the normal - FST. Thus, the angle of refraction should be smaller than the angle of refraction. And indeed it is - 36.2 degrees (theta r) is smaller than 52.0 degrees (theta i). Using this conceptual criterion as a check of your answer can often identify incorrect solutions to problems. Example Problem B A ray of light in air is approaching the boundary with a layer of crown glass at an angle of 42.0 degrees. Determine the angle of refraction of the light ray upon entering the crown glass and upon leaving the crown glass. Refer to the table of indices of refraction if necessary. Solution to Problem B This problem is slightly more complicated than Problem A since refraction is taking place at two boundaries. This is an example of a layer problem where the light refracts upon entering the layer (boundary #1: air to crown glass) and again upon leaving the layer (boundary #2: crown glass to air). Despite this complication, the solution begins like the above problem: a diagram is constructed to assist

in the visualization of the physical situation, the known values are listed, and the unknown value (desired quantity) is identified. This is shown below: Diagram: Given: Find: Boundary #1 ni = 1.00 (from table) nr = 1.52 (from table) = 42.0 degrees Boundary #2 ni = 1.52 (from table) nr = 1.00 (from table) at boundary #1 and at boundary #2

Note that the angle of refraction at boundary #1 is the same as the angle of incidence at boundary #2. Now list the relevant equation (Snell's Law), substitute known values into the equation, and perform the proper algebraic steps to solve for the unknown. Begin the process at boundary #1 and then repeat for boundary #2 until the final answer is found. Boundary #1:

1.00 * sine (42.0 degrees) = 1.52 * sine (theta r) 0.669 = 1.52 * sine (theta r) 0.4402 = sine (theta r) -1 sine (0.4402) = sine-1 ( sine (theta r)) 26.1 degrees = theta r The value of 26.1 degrees corresponds to the angle of refraction at boundary #1. Since boundary #1 is parallel to boundary #2, the angle of refraction at boundary #1 will be the same as the angle of incidence at boundary #2 (seediagram above). So now repeat the process in order to solve for the angle of refraction at boundary #2. Boundary #2:

1.52 * sine (26.1 degrees) = 1.00 * sine (theta r) 1.52 * (0.4402) = 1.00 * sine (theta r) 0.6691 = sine (theta r) -1 sine (0.6691) = sine-1 ( sine (theta r)) 42.0 degrees = theta r The answers to this problem are 26.1 degrees and 42.0 degrees. There is an important conceptual idea that is found from an inspection of the above answer. The ray of light approached the top surface of the layer at 42 degrees and exited through the bottom surface of

the layer with the same angle of 42 degrees. The light ray refracted one direction upon entering and the other direction upon exiting; the two individual effects have balanced each other and the ray is moving in the same direction. The important concept is this: When light approaches a layer that has the shape of a parallelogram that is bounded on both sides by the same material, then the angle at which the light enters the material is equal to the angle at which light exits the layer. If the layer is not a parallelogram or is not bound on both sides by the same material, then this will not be the case. Knowing this concept will allow you to conduct a quick check of an answer in a situation like this. Example Problem C A ray of light in air is approaches a triangular piece of crown glass at an angle of 0.00 degrees (as shown in the diagram at the right). Perform the necessary calculations in order to trace the path of the light ray as it enters and exits the crown glass. Refer to the table of indices of refraction if necessary.

Solution to Problem C This problem is even more complicated than Practice Problem B. Like Practice Problem B, there are two boundaries; but unlike Problem B, the two boundaries are not parallel to each other. The problem can be treated like a layer problem in which the light refracts upon entering the glass (boundary #1: air to crown glass) and upon leaving the glass (boundary #2: crown glass to air). Despite the complication of there being nonparallel boundaries, the solution begins like the above problem: a diagram is constructed to assist in the visualization of the physical situation, the known values are listed, and the unknown value (desired quantity) is identified. This is shown below: Diagram: Given: Find: Boundary #1 ni = 1.00 (from table) nr = 1.52 (from table) = 0.0 degrees Boundary #2 ni = 1.52 (from table) nr = 1.00 (from table) Trace path of light. That is, find at boundary #1 and and at boundary #2

Now list the relevant equation (Snell's Law), substitute known values into the equation, and perform the proper algebraic steps to solve for the unknown. Begin the process at boundary #1 and then repeat for boundary #2 until the final answer is found. Boundary #1:

1.00 * sine (0.0 degrees) = 1.52 * sine (theta r) 0.000 = 1.52 * sine (theta r) 0.000 = sine (theta r) -1 sine (0.000) = sine-1 ( sine (theta r))

0.00 degrees = theta r This problem is made easier if you draw upon your conceptual knowledge of what occurs when a light ray approaches at an angle of incidence of 0-degrees (recall the If I Were an Archer Fish page). When approaching along the normal, the light ray passes across the boundary without refracting. If you did not know this, then you would merely recognize it upon performing your first calculation of the angle of refraction at the first boundary. The fact that the answer is 0 degrees - the same as the incident angle means that light did not refract at this boundary. The next step demands that the light ray be traced through the triangular block until it reaches the second boundary. Draw the refracted ray at 0 degrees (i.e., trace the incident ray straight through the first boundary). At the second boundary, the normal line must be drawn (labeled N) and the angle of incidence (between the incident ray and the normal) must be measured. This is shown on the diagram at the right. The measured value of the angle of incidence at the second boundary is 30.0 degrees. This angle measurement now provides knowledge of three of the four variables in the Snell's Law equation and allows for the determination of the fourth variable (the angle of refraction) at the second boundary. (Note: the given angle measures for the 30-60-90 degree triangle can be used along with the fact that any three angles of a triangle add to 180 degrees in order to geometrically determine this angle measure.) Boundary #2:

1.52 * sine (30.0 degrees) = 1.00 * sine (theta r) 1.52 * (0.5000) = 1.00 * sine (theta r) 0.7600 = sine (theta r) -1 sine (0.7600) = sine-1 ( sine (theta r)) 49.5 degrees = theta r The refracted ray at the second boundary will exit at an angle of 49.5 degrees from the normal. This can be measured on the diagram and drawn with a straight edge as shown in the diagram at the right. The above three practice problems demonstrate a sampling of the variety of problems that could be encountered. In the next part of Lesson 2, we will see one more type of problem. 1. Determine the angle of refraction for the following two refraction problems.

53.9 degrees

2. Perform the necessary calculations at each boundary in order to trace the path of the light ray through the following series of layers. Use a protractor and a ruler and show all your work.

First, draw normal and measure the angle of incidence at first boundary; it is approximately 30 degrees. Then, use the given n values and Snell's Law to calculate the theta r values at each boundary. The angle of refraction at one boundary becomes the angle of incidence at the next boundary; e.g., the theta r at the air-flint glass boundary is the theta i at the flint glass-water boundary. Here are the calculated theta r values: air - flint glass: 18 degrees flint glass - water: 22 degrees water - diamond: 12 degrees

diamond - zirconium: 13 degrees cubic zirconium - air: 30 degrees

3. A ray of light in crown glass exits into air at an angle of 25.0 degrees. Determine the angle at which the light approached the glass-air boundary. Refer to the table of indices of refraction if necessary.
16.1 degrees

4. A ray of light is traveling through air (n = 1.00) towards a Lucite block (n = 1.40) in the shape of a 3060-90 triangle. Trace the path of the light ray through the Lucite block shown in the diagram below.

44 degrees