Refraction of Light

Refraction is the bending of a wave when it enters a

medium where its speed is different. The refraction of
light when it passes from a fast medium to a slow
medium bends the light ray toward the normal to the
boundary between the two media. The amount of
bending depends on the indices of refraction of the two
media and is described quantitatively bySnell's Law.

Refraction is
responsible for
image formation
bylenses and
theeye.
As the speed of light is reduced in the slower medium,
the wavelength is shortened proportionately. The
frequency is unchanged; it is a characteristic of the
source of the light and unaffected by medium changes.

Refraction of Light

Law of Refraction

Index of Refraction
Snell's Law
The Cause of Refraction
Conditions of Refraction
Law of Refraction
The law of refraction, which is generally known
as Snell's law, governs the behaviour of light-rays as
they propagate across a sharp interface between two
transparent dielectric media.
Consider a light-ray incident on a plane interface between two
transparent dielectric media, labelled 1 and 2. The law of refraction
states that the incident ray, the refracted ray, and the normal to the
interface, all lie in the same plane. Furthermore,

where

is the angle subtended between the incident

ray and the normal to the interface, and

is the angle

subtended between the refracted ray and the normal to

the interface. The quantities
and
are termed
the refractive indices of media 1 and 2, respectively.
Thus, the law of refraction predicts that a light-ray
always deviates more towards the normal in the
optically denser medium: i.e., the medium with the
higher refractive index. Note that
in the figure.
The law of refraction also holds for non-planar
interfaces, provided that the normal to the interface at
any given point is understood to be the normal to the
local tangent plane of the interface at that point.

The law of refraction.

By definition, the refractive index
dielectric constant is given by

of a dielectric medium of

Material
1.000
Air (STP)
29
Water

1.33

Ice

1.31

shows the refractive indices of some

common materials (for yellow light of
wavelength
nm).
Refractive indices of some common
materials at
nm.

Glass:
Light
flint

1.58

Heavy
1.65
flint
Heavie
1.89
st flint
Diamon
2.42
d

The law of refraction follows directly from the

fact thatthe speed with which light propagates
through a dielectric medium is inversely
proportional to the refractive index of the
medium In fact,

where

is the speed of light in a vacuum. Consider two

parallel light-rays, and , incident at an angle with

respect to the normal to the interface between two
dielectric media, 1 and 2. Let the refractive indices of
the two media be

and

respectively, with

. It is

clear from that ray must move from point to point

, in medium 1, in the same time interval, , in which
ray moves between points and , in medium 2.
Now, the speed of light in medium 1 is
the speed of light in medium 2 is
the length
given by

and

Hence,

is given by

, whereas
. It follows that

, whereas the length

. By trigonometry,

is

which can be rearranged to give Snell's law. Note that

the lines
and
represent wave-fronts in media 1
and 2, respectively, and, therefore, cross rays and at
right-angles.

Derivation of Snell's law.

When light passes from one dielectric medium to another its
velocity

changes, but its frequency

remains unchanged.

Since,
for all waves, where is the wavelength, it follows that
the wavelength of light must also change as it crosses an interface
between two different media. Suppose that light propagates from
medium 1 to medium 2. Let and be the refractive indices of the
two media, respectively. The ratio of the wave-lengths in the two
media is given by

Thus, as light moves from air to glass its

wavelength decreases.

Refraction at Spherical Surfaces

In the same way that the Law of Reflection is the basic tool we use to
develop the theory of mirrors, Snell's Law is the basic tool that we use
to develop the theory of lenses. In this section, we will discuss single
refraction for a circular boundary, where a beam of light passes from
one medium into another. The material in this section will then be
extended in the next, where we will cogitate on a beam of light that is
refracted twice. In other words, we shall be undertaking a study of
lenses.

Index of Refraction
The index of refraction is defined as the speed of
light in vacuum divided by the speed of light in the
medium.
The indices of refraction of some common substances
are given below with a more complete description of
the indices for optical glasses given elsewhere. The

values given are approximate and do not account for the

small variation of index with light wavelength which is
called dispersion.
Material

Material

Vacuum

1.000

Ethyl alcohol

1.362

Air

1.000277

Glycerine

1.473

Water

4/3

Ice

1.31

Carbon disulfide

1.63

Polystyrene

1.59

Methylene iodide

1.74

Crown glass 1.50-1.62

Diamond

2.417

Flint glass

1.57-1.75

Snell's Law
Snell's Law relates the indices of refraction n of the two media
to the directions of propagation in terms of the angles to the
normal. Snell's law can be derived from Fermat's Principle or
from the Fresnel Equations.

Enter data and then click on the symbol for the quantity you
wish to calculate in the active equation above. The numbers
will not be forced to be consistent until you click on the
quantity to calculate. Indices of refraction must be greater than
or equal to 1, so values less than 1 do not represent a
physically possible system.
If the incident medium has the larger index of refraction, then
the angle with the normal is increased by refraction. The
larger index medium is commonly called the "internal"
medium, since air with n=1 is usually the surrounding or
"external" medium. You can calculate the condition for total
internal reflection by setting the refracted angle = 90 and
calculating the incident angle. Since you can't refract the light
by more than 90, all of it will reflect for angles of incidence
greater than the angle which gives refraction at 90.

The Cause of Refraction

Boundary Behavior
Refraction and Sight
The Cause of Refraction
Optical Density and Light Speed
The Direction of Bending
If I Were an Archer Fish

We have learned that refraction occurs as light passes

across the boundary between two media. Refraction is
merely one of several possible boundary behaviors by
which a light wave could behave when it encounters a
new medium or an obstacle in its path. The
transmission of light across a boundary between two
media is accompanied by a change in both the speed
and wavelength of the wave. The light wave not only
changes directions at the boundary, it also speeds up
or slows down and transforms into a wave with a larger
or a shorter wavelength. The only time that a wave can
be transmitted across a boundary, change its speed,
and still not refract is when the light wave approaches
the boundary in a direction that is perpendicular to it.
As long as the light wave changes speed and
approaches the boundary at an angle, refraction is
observed.

Conditions of Refraction
There are two conditions that are required in order to
observe the change in direction of the path of the
students:

The students must change speed when crossing the

boundary.
The students must approach the boundary at an
angle; refraction will not occur when they approach

the boundary head-on (i.e., heading perpendicular to

it).
These are both reasonable enough conditions if you
consider the previous paragraph. If the students do not
change speed, then there is no cause factor. Recall that
it was the change in speed of the students that caused
the change in direction. The second condition is also
reasonable. If the students approach the masking tape
in a direction that is perpendicular to it, then each
student will reach the tape at the exact same time.
Recall that the line of student changed their direction
because they had reached the masking tape at
different times. The first student reached the tape,
slowed down, and observed the rest of the students
marching ahead at the original speed. The change in
direction of the line of students only occurs at the
boundary when the students change speed and
approach at an angle.