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Recall and use the terms for refraction, including normal, angle of incidence, angle of refraction recall and apply the relationship sin i / sin r = constant to new situations or to solve related problems define refractive index of a medium in terms of the ratio of speed of light in vacuum and in the medium explain the terms critical angle and total internal reflection
Word Splash
Use the following words and create a mindmap on Refraction!
bending different speed of light air optical density away medium
sin i n sin r
real depth
vacuum towards
apparent depth
refractive index
normal
Refraction of light
Light source
Glass block
5 from: http://www.physics.brown.edu/physics/demopages/Demo/optics/demo/6a4210.htm
What is Refraction?
Refraction is the bending of light as it travels from one transparent medium into another.
This is due to a change in the speed of light Medium: the substance that light passes through
E.g. air, water, glass, plastic, diamond
Law of Refraction
The incident ray, the normal and the refracted ray all lie in the same plane. For 2 particular media, the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is a constant i.e.
Refractive index
Refractive index, n, of a medium is the ratio of the speed of light in vacuum and the speed of light in that medium. The bigger the value of n, the more optically denser the substance.
Refractive index
sin i The ratio is constant, however it differs for sin r
each medium.
For the special case of light passing from a vacuum (or in practice, air) into a given medium, the constant ratio is equal to the refractive index of the medium.
sin i n sin r
vacuum medium
r
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When light travels from an optically less dense to a denser medium, light bends towards the normal
normal Incident ray
i is greater than r
air water
r
refracted ray
When light travels from an optically denser to a less dense medium, light bends away from the normal
normal refracted ray
i is smaller than r
air water
i
incident ray
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Example 1
The diagram shows a ray of light incident on the surface of a liquid and its subsequent path. What is the refractive index of the liquid?
sin i n sin r
i = 59 and r = 40,
59
air liquid 40
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Example 2
If light is incident upon crown glass (n = 1.52) at an angle of 40, what is the angle of refraction? Also, complete the drawing of the ray diagram.
n
i air
crown glass
sin i sin r
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Reversibility of light
The principle of reversibility states that light will follow exactly the same path if its direction of travel is reversed.
40
40
air
crown glass 25
air
crown glass 25
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Example 3
A ray of light emerges from water (n = 1.33) to air. Calculate the angle of refraction, r.
Applying reversibility of light, use r as the angle of incidence and 35 as the angle of refraction.
r
air water
i.e. solve the question as though light is passing from air to water.
35
sin i n sin r sin r 1.33 sin 35 sin r 1.33 sin 35 r sin 1 (1.33 sin 35) r 49.7
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Apparent depth
Due to refraction, the depth of water looks shallower. This perceived depth is called apparent depth.
depth
You can use apparent depth to calculate the refractive index of a medium.
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Distortion of objects
Due to refraction, the stick appears bent underwater.
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Distortion of objects
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Multiple images
How many goldfish are there?
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Applet: http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/ntnujava/index.php?topic=49
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i = 0
Semi-circular glass block
air glass
incident ray
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ic
i=c
c c
90
Critical Angle :
Critical angle is defined as the angle of incidence in the optically denser medium for which the angle of refraction in the less dense medium is 90.
90 c
When the angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle, the ray is reflected totally within the block. This is known as total internal reflection.
ic
i strong totally internally reflected ray
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video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q4Cl6sDxu8
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Example:
A right angled prism is made of glass of refractive index 1.5. A ray of light enters the prism.
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(a) Calculate the critical angle of the prism (b) Complete the path of the ray until it emerges into the air again.
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2.
Camera
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Optical Fibre
consists of a central glass core of high refractive index glass or plastic, coated with a thin layer of glass of lower refractive index. a light ray entering the pipe is totally internally reflected. light will travel the whole length of the light pipe with repeated total internal reflections at the surfaces and then emerges from the other end of the pipe without loss of intensity. can be used in endoscope to enable doctors to see organs inside the human body and also used in telecommunications.
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPzSuh7BPKM
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