Refraction

By Brant Lauweryssen
Brant Lauweryssen Friday, April 30, 2010 9:19:02 AM MT
 Questions
•  What  is  Refrac-on  
•  Why  does  Refrac-on  happen  
•  How  does  Density  impact  Refrac-on  
•  Can  you  predict  how  an  object  will  Refract  
•  Do  the  Affects  of  Refrac-on  change  for  
different  Mediums  

Brant Lauweryssen Friday, April 30, 2010 9:19:02 AM MT

 Hypothesis
•  My  hypothesis  for  my  last  three  ques-ons  
•  I  don’t  think  that  density  will  impact  the  
affects  of  Refrac-on  
•  I  think  that  there  might  be  some  ways  that  can  
sort  of  predict  how  something  will  refract  but  I  
think  it  will  mostly  be  hard  to  do  
•  I  do  think  that  different  mediums  will  be  
affected  slightly  different  by  Refrac-on  

Brant Lauweryssen Friday, April 30, 2010 9:19:02 AM MT

 What is Refraction?
•  Refrac-on  is  the  bending  of  light  as  it  passes  
from  one  medium  to  another  
•  If  you  have  ever  placed  a  straw  or  s-ck  in  
water  you  may  have  no-ced  that  at  the  spot  
where  it  enters  the  water  it  appears  to  come  
out  bent  
•  This  is  caused  by  Refrac-on  

Brant Lauweryssen Friday, April 30, 2010 9:19:02 AM MT

 Diagram
Here  you  see  on  the  leF  diagram  that  the  light  ray  goes  from  less  dense  
to  more  dense  in  the  water  so  the  refracted  ray  ends  up  closer  to  the  
normal  line.  On  the  right  diagram  it  shows  that  the  refracted  ray  is  closer  
to  the  incident  line  which  means  that  the  light  went  from  more  dense  to  
less  dense.  

Brant Lauweryssen Friday, April 30, 2010 9:19:02 AM MT

 Why does it happen?
•  It  happens  because  the  object  was  placed  in  a  
medium  (water)  which  you  could  see  because  
of  the  Incident  ray  (sun  light)  reflec-ng  off  of  it  
and  into  your  eyes  and  since  light  travels  at  a  
constant  speed,  when  the  light  enters  a  new  
medium  such  as  water  it  bends  a  liMle.    

Brant Lauweryssen Friday, April 30, 2010 9:19:02 AM MT

 How does density impact refraction
•  When  a  light  ray  travels  from  a  
less  dense  medium  to  a  more  
dense  medium  it  will  appear  
bent  at  the  point  of  incidence  
closer  to  the  normal  line.  When  
the  ray  moves  from  a  more  
dense  to  a  less  dense  medium  it  
is  bent  away  from  the  normal  
line  
•  So  you  can  see  that  density  plays  
a  big  role  in  Refrac-on  

Brant Lauweryssen Friday, April 30, 2010 9:19:02 AM MT

 Can you predict how an object
will refract?
•  It  is  easier  to  predict  how  an  object  will  refract  
by  looking  at  four  different  things  
•  The  angle  of  the  light  ray  
•  The  angle  you  put  the  object  into  the  medium  
•  The  Refrac-ve  index  of  the  medium  
•  Lastly  the  density  of  the  two  mediums  
•  If  you  put  all  of  these  aspects  into  
considera-on,  predic-ng  the  objects  
refrac-on  shouldn’t  be  that  hard  
Brant Lauweryssen Friday, April 30, 2010 9:19:02 AM MT
 Do the affects of refraction
change for different mediums?
•  The  answer  is  yes,  each  medium  is  refracted  differently  
•  The  measure  of  bending/changing  direc-on  of  a  beam  of  light  when  
entering  a  denser  medium  is  called  the  Refrac-ve  index  
•  Each  medium  has  a  different  Refrac-ve  index,  so  the  amount  of  
light  bending  depends  on  the  amount  of  Refrac-ve  index  inside  the  
medium  
•  Each  medium  also  has  its  own  density  which  affects  how  much  the  
object  refracts  as  well  as  Refrac-ve  index  
•  Diamond  has  a  Refrac-ve  Index  (RI)  of  2.417  
•  Air  has  a  RI  of  1.000293  
•  Water  has  a  RI  of  1.3330  
•  Gold  has  a  RI  of  0.47  
•  Beer  has  a  RI  of  1.345  
•  Glass  has  a  RI  of  1.52  

Brant Lauweryssen Friday, April 30, 2010 9:19:02 AM MT

 Conclusion  
•  I  have  learnt  many  things  from  my  research  
such  as  I  didn’t  know  about  Refrac-ve  index  
and  I  did  not  know  that  density  impacts  the  
affects  of  Refrac-on  

Brant Lauweryssen Friday, April 30, 2010 9:19:02 AM MT