CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
REFRACTION
RULES OF REFRACTION
SNELLS LAW
TOTAL INTERNAL

REFLECTION
CRITICAL ANGLE

AIM OF THE EXPERIMENT

APPARATUS REQUIRED
THEORY
PROCEDURE
OBSERVATION
RESULT

Introduction

The

phenomena

of

change

in

direction of propagation of a wave

due to a change in its transmission
medium is called refraction of light.
The

path

along

which

the

light

travels in the first medium is called

incident

ray

and

that

in

second

medium is called refracted ray. The

angle between the incident ray and
the refracted ray makes with normal
at the surface of
called

angle

of

separation are
incidence(i)

and

angle of refraction(r) respectively.

Refraction of light at the interface between two media of different

refractive indices, with n2 > n1. Since the phase velocity is lower in the
second medium (v2 < v1), the angle of refraction 2 is less than the angle of
incidence 1; that is, the ray in the higher-index medium is closer to the
normal.

Law of Refraction:
The law of refraction, which is
generally known as Snell's law,
governs the behavior 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, labeled
1 and 2.

1. The law of refraction states

that
the
incident
ray,
the
refracted ray, and the normal to
the interface, all lie in the same
plane.
2.
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 nonplanar 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.

For example,
A light ray will refract as it
enters and leaves glass, assuming
there is a change in refractive
index. A ray traveling along the
normal (perpendicular to the
boundary) will change speed, but
not direction. Refraction still
occurs
in
this
case.
Understanding of this concept led
to the invention of lenses and the
refracting telescope.

Refraction can be seen when

looking into a bowl of water. Air
has a refractive index of about

1.0003, and water has a refractive

index of about 1.3330. If a person
looks at a straight object, such as
a pencil or straw, which is placed
at a slant, partially in the water,
the object appears to bend at the
water's surface. This is due to the
bending of light rays as they move
from the water to the air. Once
the rays reach the eye, the eye
traces them back as straight lines
(lines of sight). The lines of sight
(shown as dashed lines) intersect
at a higher position than where
the actual rays originated. This
causes the pencil to appear
higher and the water to appear
shallower than it really is. The
depth that the water appears to
be when viewed from above is
known as the apparent depth.
This is an important consideration

for spear fishing from the surface

because it will make the target
fish appear to be in a different
place, and the fisher must aim
lower
to
catch
the
fish.
Conversely, an object above the
water has a higher apparent
height when viewed from below
the water.

An object (in this case a pencil) part immersed in water looks bent
due to refraction: the light waves from X change direction and so
seem to originate at Y. (More accurately, for any angle of view, Y
should be vertically above X, and the pencil should appear shorter,
not longer as shown.)

Apparent flattering of the sun at sunrise and sunset.

The sun near the horizon

appears flattened.
This is due to atmospheric
refraction.
The density and RI of atmosphere
decrease with altitude, so the sun
ray from the top and bottom
portions of sun on the horizon are
refracted by different degrees.
This causes the apparent

flattering of the sun. But the rays

from the side of sun on a
horizontal plane are generally
refracted by same amount, so the
sun still appears circular along its
sides.

Snells Law
Snell's law (also known as the
SnellDescartes law and the law of
refraction) is a formula used to
describe the relationship between
the
angles
of
incidence
and
refraction, when referring to light or
other waves passing through a
boundary between two different

isotropic media,
glass, or air.

such

as

water,

Snell's law states that the ratio of

the sine of the angles of incidence
and refraction is equivalent to the
ratio of phase velocities in the two
media,
or
equivalent
to
the
reciprocal of the ratio of the indices
of refraction:
Sin1/sin2 = n2/n1 = 1/2 = v1/v2
with each as the angle measured
from the normal of the boundary, as
the velocity of light in the respective
medium (SI units are meters per
second, or m/s), as the wavelength of
light in the respective medium and
as the refractive index (which is unit
less) of the respective medium.

Total internal
reflection and
critical angle
When light travels from a medium
with a higher refractive index to one
with a lower refractive index, Snell's
law seems to require in some cases
(whenever the angle of incidence is
large enough) that the sine of the
angle of refraction be greater than
one. This of course is impossible,
and the light in such cases is
completely
reflected
by
the
boundary, a phenomenon known as
total internal reflection. The largest
possible angle of incidence which
still results in a refracted ray is
called the critical angle; in this

case the refracted ray travels along

the boundary between the two
media.

AIM

OF

EXPERIMENT ;

To
trace the path of ray of light passing
through the liquid for different angles
of incidence by passing them to a
hollow glass slab and to measure
their refractive index.

Apparatus required:
Drawing board
rectangular hollow glass slab
office pins
white sheet
protector
pointed pencil
Different liquids like water,
petrol, vinegar, refined oil, diesel,
rose water.

Theory:
PQRS represent a hollow rectangular
glass slab. Consider that a ray of
light enters the glass slab along AE.
It means that light is travelling from
rarer medium (i.e., air) to liquid
which is denser medium. Thus the
refracted ray bends towards the
normal making r<i.
At the other face of slab, the ray EF
while traveling through glass meets
the surface SR of air which is a rarer
medium. It emerges out along FD,
bending away from the normal. The
ray FD is known as emergent ray.
The angle which the emergent ray
makes with the normal at the point
of emergent is called the angle of
emergent is denoted by letter e.
The refractive index of liquid, is
given by Snells law i.e.,
=sin i / sin r

where i is the angle of incidence and

r is the angle of refraction.

Procedure:
1. Fix a sheet of white paper on a
drawing board with pins. Place
the glass slab nearly in the middle
of the sheet.
2. Mark the boundary of the glass
slab with a sharp pencil and label
it as PQRS after removing the slab
from its position.
3. On line PQ mark a point E and
draw a normal N1EN2 at it. Draw a
line AE making an angle AEN1
with normal. The angle should
neither be too small nor too large.
4. Now place the glass slab again on
its boundary PQRS and fix the pin
at point A and B vertically about
10 cm apart on the line AE.
5. Looking through the glass slab
along the plan of paper from the

slab along the plan of paper from

the side SR and move your head
until the image of two pins A&B
are seen clearly. Closing your one
eye adjust the position of your
head in such a way that the image
of pin A and B lie in same
straight line.
6. Fix two other pins c and d
vertically in such a way that the
image of pins A&B and C&D all lie
in same straight line. Ensure that
the feet of the pins lie in same
straight line.
7. Remove the slab and also the pins
from the board and encircle the
pin-pricks on the paper, with a
sharp pencil.
8. Join the points D&C and produce
the line DC towards the slab,
show that it meets the boundary
line RS at point E&F. Thus for the

incident ray represented by line

AE, the refracted ray and the
emergent ray are represented by
EF and FD respectively.
9. On the line RS draw a normal
N1FN2 at point F. Now, with a
protractor measure the angle
AEN1 angleFEN2 and angle DFN2
labeled as angle i , r and e
respectively.
10.
Now place the glass slab on
some other position and repeat
the process again to take the next
observation for different angle of
incident.
11.
Make a record for your
observation in a observation
table.

 Water
S.n

o
1.
2.
3.

Mean RI() =

 Petrol
S.n

o
1.
2.
3.

Mean RI() =

 Diesel
S.n

o
1.
2.
3.

Mean RI() =

 Rose
water
S.n

o
1.
2.
3.

Mean RI() =

 Refined
oil
S.n

o
1.
2.
3.

Mean RI() =

 Vinegar
S.n

o
1.
2.
3.

Mean RI() =

Result .
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI

of
of
of
of
of
of

water
=
petrol
=
diesel
=
rose water =
refined oil =
vinegar
=