Refraction at plane surface and Prism

Questions used for discussion

1. A ray of light is incident on the surface of separation of a medium with a velocity of light
(c=3X108ms-1) at an angle 450 and is refracted in the medium at an angle 300. What will
be the velocity of light in the medium:
(1) 1.96X108ms-1 (2) 2.12X108ms-1 (3) 3.18X108ms-1 (4) 3.33X108ms-1

2. A ray of light is travelling from medium A to medium B. The angle of incidence is i and
that of refraction is r. Graph between sin(i) and sin(r) is as shown in Figure below. We
can conclude the following

(i) Speed of light in medium B is three-fourth of that in medium A.

(ii) Total internal reflection cannot take place.
(iii) Refractive index of medium B is greater than that of medium A.
Correct conclusions are
(1)Only (i) and (ii) (2) Only (ii) and (iii)
(3) (i), (ii) and (iii) (4) Only (i) and (iii)

3. Given refractive index of glass with respect to air is ang = 3/2 and that of water with
respect to air anw = 4/3, the refractive index of glass with respect to water is
(1) 8/9 (2) 9/8 (3) 2 (4) 1/2

4. A vessel of height h is filled with a liquid of refractive index n1 to a height h/2 and the
upper half of the vessel is filled with a liquid of refractive index n 2. The apparent depth of
the vessel as seen along the normal is
 nn1 2  h  n1 n 2  h  n1 + n 2  2  n 1n 2 
(1) h   (2)   (3)   (4)  
 1 + n2 
n 2  n1 + n 2  2  n 1n 2  h  n1 + n 2 
5. A ray of light passes through four transparent media with
D
µ1 µ2 µ3
refractive indices 123 and 4 as shown in fig. The
A C µ4
surfaces of all media are parallel. If the emergent ray CD
A
is parallel to the incident ray AB, we must have

(1) 1 = 2 (2) 2 = 3 (3) 3 = 4 (4) 4 =1

6. An ink dot on a paper placed on a table top is viewed from a distance of 30 cm above it
with the help of a telescope. A 16 cm thick glass slab is placed on the ink dot. By what
distance the telescope should be raised to refocus the ink dot ? The refractive index of
glass is 1.6.
(1) 3 cm (2) 4 cm (3) 5 cm (4) 6 cm
7. Consider the situation shown in the figure. The bottom of the vessel is a plane mirror, S is
a small fish located at a height of H/2 from the plane of the mirror, T is a human eye
located at a height of H from the surface of water. The distances at which the fish sees
the images of the eye (with respect to its position) are T

 1  3
(1) H  2n +  above and H  2n +  below
 2  2 H
 1   3 
(2) H 1 +  above and H 1 +  below
 2n   2n 
 1  3
(3) H  n +  above and H  n +  below H S
 2  2
 2   3  (H/2)
(4) H  2 +  above and H  2 +  below
 2n   2n 
8. A, B and C are three optical media of respective critical angles C 1, C2 and C3. Total
internal reflection of light can occur from A to B and also from B to C but not from C to
A. Then the correct relation between critical angles is:
(1) C1>C2>C3 (2) C1= C2= C3 (3) C3> C1> C2 (4) C1<C2<C3

9. What is the critical angle, C for calcite (=1.5) immersed in oil (=1.1)?
(1) C =tan −1
(1.1 1.5) (2) C =cos −1
(1.1 1.5) (3) C =sin −1
(1.5 1.1)

(4) C =sin −1
(1.1 1.5)
10. The minimum angle of deviation of a prism of refractive index 1.732 is equal to its
refracting angle. What is the angle of prism?
(1) 400 (2) 450 (3) 600 (4) 300

11. A ray of light is incident on one refracting face of a prism of angle 750. It passes through
the prism and is incident on the other face at critical angle. If the refractive index of the
material of the prism is √2, then the angle of incidence on the first face is:
(1) 300 (2) 450 (3) 600 (4) 75 0

12. The dispersive power of the material of the prism for which refractive index for violet
and red colours are nv = 1.524, nr = 1.514 respectively is
1) 0.025 2) 0.034 3) 0.019 4) 0.015

13. A crown glass prism of 60 is cemented with a flint glass prism to form a pair which
produces dispersion without deviation. If the refractive index of the crown glass prism is
1.52 and that of flint glass 1.66, then the angle of flint glass pair should be
4.730 (2) 5.730 (3) 6.730 (4) 7.730

14. Light appears to travel in straight line because

1) The frequency of light is very small
2) Light consists of very small particles
3) The wavelength of light is very small
4) The velocity of light is different for different colours.

15. When light is refracted through a prism, maximum deviation occurs when the following
conditions are satisfied
(i) the ray is incident grazing the first face
(ii) the ray emerges out grazing its second face
 Options
(1)Only in case (i) (2) Only in case (ii)
(3) In both the cases (4) Not under these cases

16. A man is swimming underwater with undisturbed surface. Looking up at a bright sky
through the water, he will see
(1)a bright patch directly above whose angular size is
independent of the depth of the swimmer
(2)a shining surface of the water
(3) just darkness
(4) a bright patch directly above whose angular size depends
upon the depth of the swimmer
Extra questions
17. A bulb is placed at a depth of 2√7 in water and a floating opaque disc is placed over the
bulb so that the bulb is not visible from the surface. The radius of the disc should be at
least : (given refractive index of water is 4/3)
(1) 42m
(2) 6m
(3) 2√7m
(4) 12m
18. A prism ABC of angle 300 has its face AC silvered. A ray of light incident at an angle of
450at the face AB is found to retrace its path. The refractive index of the material of the
prism is

(1) 1.5
(2) √2
(3) √3
(4) 3/√2
19. The difference between angle of minimum deviation of violet and red rays in the
spectrum of white light is 20. If the angle of minimum deviation of mean ray is 400, the
dispersive power of the material of the prism is
(1) 0.04
(2) 0.05
(3) 0.5
(4) 0.025

20. In a prism, the angle of incidence for which the emergent ray grazes the boundary is
given by (i1)min. Consider the following changes.
(a) if the angle of incidence is greater than (i1)min
(b) at an angle greater than (i1)min if the angle of prism is
changed
(c) at an angle greater than (i1)min if the refractive index of material is changed

The light will come out of the prism

(1) Only in case of (a) (2) Only in case of (b)
(3) Only in case (C) (4) In case of (a), (b) and (c)
Practice questions
1. Velocities of light in water and glass have which of the following relations?
(1) The velocities in both the media are equal to that in vacuum.
(2) The velocities in both the media are the same but less than that in vacuum.
(3) The velocity in water is more than that in glass but less than that in vacuum.
(4) The velocity in water is less than that in both glass and vacuum.

2. Light travels through a glass plate of thickness d and refractive index n. If c is the
velocity of light in vacuum, the time taken by light to travel this thickness of glass is
(1) d/nc (2) dnc (3) nd/c (4) dc/n

N
3. A ray of light from a denser medium strikes A C
i r
a rarer medium at angle of incidence i (fig). DENSER
The reflected and refracted rays make an BARER B r'

angle of 90  with each other. The angles of D

N’
reflection and refraction are r and r ' . The refractive index is
(1) tan(r) (2) cot(i) (3) ssec(r) (4) cosec(i)

4. A ray of light of wavelength 720 nm is refracted into a medium of refractive index 1.5.
The wavelength of light in the medium is
(1) 1080 nm (2) 720 nm (3) 480 nm (4) 3600 nm

5. A ray of light travelling from air to water. (Refractive index of water = 4/3). The angle of
incidence is 53°. The deviation of the ray is
(1) 0° (2) 16°
−1  sin 50 ° −1 sin 50 °
(3) 50 ° − sin   (4) sin   − 50 °
 1.5   1.5 

6. A glass slab of thickness 4 cm contains the same number of waves as 5 cm water can
contain, when both are traversed by the same monochromatic light. If the refractive index
of water is 4/3, refractive index of glass is
(1) 5/3 (2) 5/4 (3) 16/15 (4) 1.5
7. A light beam passing from air into a liquid suffers a deviation of 15° at the interface
when incident at an angle of 60°. The refractive index of the liquid is
3 2 3
(1) (2) (3) (4)
2 3 2
2
3
8. A ray of light passes through a slab (n = 1.5) of thickness d. The angle of refraction 60°.
If the speed of light in vacuum is c, then the time taken to cross the slab will be
(1) 3d (2) 3d (3) 2d
2c c 3c
4d
(4)
3c

9. Red, yellow and blue light are made to incident on a glass slab of thickness t, one after
the other at an angle of incidence ‘θ’ (θ is small). Then the lateral shift produced is
(1) maximum for red (2) minimum for red
(3) same for red, yellow and blue (4) minimum for violet

10. A tank contains a glass slab 8 cm thick and of refractive index 1.6. Above this a thin
beaker containing oil to a height of 4.5 cm is placed. Upon this water to a height of 6 cm

4
floats. (refractive index = ). To an observer looking along the normal, a mark at the
3
bottom of the glass slab appears to be raised by 6 cm from the bottom of the slab. The
refractive index of oil is
(1) 0.8 (2) 1.2 (3) 1.5 (4) 1.8

11. A bubble lies in a glass slab at an apparent depth of 10 cm. If the refractive index of
glass be 1.5, the real depth of the bubble is
10 1.5
(1) cm (2) cm (3) 11 .5cm (4) 15 .0cm
1.5 10
12. A small object is placed at a distance of 20 cm from a glass block 10 cm thick. The
farther side of the glass block is silvered. The image appears to be 23.2 cm behind the
silvered face of the block. The refractive index of glass is
(1) 1.49 (2) 1.51 (3) 1.59 (4) 1.48

13. Imagine that a fish inside water and a bird in the sky are looking at each other. Then,
(1) to the fish the bird appears to be higher than it actually is
(2) to the fish the bird appears to be lower than it actually is
(3) to the bird the fish appears to be at lesser depth than it actually is
(4) (1) and (3)

14. A ray of light travels from a denser to a rarer medium. The critical angle for two media is
C . The maximum possible deviation of the ray will be
(1) (π − C ) (2) (π 2 +C ) (3) 2C (4) (π − 2C )

15. A ray of light travelling in a transparent medium falls on a surface separating the medium
from air at an angle of incidence of 45  . The ray undergoes total internal reflection. If
n is the refractive index of the medium with respect to air, select the possible value(s) of
n from the following
(1) 1.6 (2) 1.2 (3) 1.4 (4) 1.3

16. Two transparent media A and B are separated by a plane boundary. The speed of light in
medium A is 2.0 ×10 8 m / s and in medium B is 2.5 ×10 8 m / s . The critical angle for
which a ray of light from A to B is totally internally reflected is
−1  1 −1  2 −1   4 −1   4
(1) sin  2  (2) sin  3  (3) sin  5  (4) sin  9 
       

17. If µ for water is 4/3 and that of a given slab immersed in it is 5/3, the value of the critical
angle for a ray of light tending to go from glass to water is
− − −
(1) sin 1
3 4 (2) sin 1
3 5 (3) sin 1
4 5 (4) none of these
18. Two media are separated by a plane surface. Speed of light in one medium is

2.5 ×10 10 cm sec −1 . Deduce the critical angle for a ray going from the first medium

into the second:

1 5 5 −1 1
(1) sin −1 (2) sin −1 (3) sin −1 (4) sin
2 6 12 2

19. A ray of light travelling from glass to air. (Refractive index of glass = 1.5). The angle of
incidence is 50°. The deviation of the ray is
(1) 0° (2) 80°
−1  sin 50 ° −1 sin 50 °
(3) 50 ° − sin   (4) sin   − 50 °
 1.5   1.5 

20. A ray of light undergoes deviation of 30  when incident on an equilateral prism of

refractive index 2 . The angle made by ray inside the prism with the base of the prism
is
(1) zero (2) 30  (3) 45  (4)
60 

21. A ray of light is incident normally on one of the faces of a prism of apex angle 30  and
refractive index 2 . The angle of deviation of the ray in degree is
(1) 15 (2) 30 (3) 45 (4)
60

22. The refractive index of an equilateral prism is 3 . The angle of incidence at which the
deviation is minimum would be
(1) 45 0 (2) 60  (3) 30 

(4) none of these

23. A ray of light is incident on one face of an equilateral prism at an angle of 600. The
deviation suffered by the ray is (the prism is in minimum deviation position)
(1)450 (2) 600 (3)300 (4) 150

24. A ray of light is incident normally on a face AB of a

liquid
glass prism (ng = 1.5) as shown. A liquid of refractive A 60 30 C
° °
index n is placed on the face AC of the prism. For a
normally incident ray on the face AB, the limits of n for 90
°
which total internal reflection takes place at the face AC B
is
3 3 3
(1) n > (2) n <
2 4

3
(3) n> 3 (4) n <
2

25. A ray of light is incident perpendicular to one of the faces of an equilateral prism. The ray
A
emerges out of the second face when the refractive index of the prism material
P is
Q
(1) 2 r2

(2) 1.15
B C
(3) more than 1.15
(4) less than 1.15

26. White light is passed through a prism of angle 5 . If the refractive indices for the red
and blue colours are 1.641 and 1.659 respectively, what is the angle of dispersion
between them?
(1) 5 (2) 2 (3) 0.09  (4) 0.9

27. If the deviation suffered the red yellow and blue light when it passé through a small
angled prism is 2.840, 3.280 and 3.720 respectively then the dispersive power of the
material of the prism is
1) 0.29 2) 0.27 3) 0.19 4) 0.26
28. The dispersive power of the material of the prism if nv = 1.524, nr = 1.514 is
2) 0.025 2) 0.034 3) 0.019 4) 0.015

29. Dispersive power depends upon:

(1) the shape of prism (2) angle of prism
(3) height of prism (4) material of prism

30. A small angle of prism produces a minimum deviation of 2° for a light ray. If the dotted
A
half of the prism is knocked off, the same ray will
(1) suffer a deviation of 4°
(2) suffer a deviation of 2° B C

(3) suffer a deviation of 1°

(4) will not emerge out of prism

4n
31. The deviation of a ray due to a small angled prism of refractive index and angle A is
3

δ1 and that due to another small angled prism of refractive index n and angle 2A is δ2.
Given n = 1.5, δ1 and δ2 are related as
(1) δ2 = δ1
(2) δ2 > δ1
(3) δ2 < δ1
(4) δ2 = 2δ1

32. A thin prism P1 with angle 4 and made from glass of refractive index 1.54 is combines

with another thin prism P2 made from glass of refractive index 1.72 to produce
dispersion without deviation. The angle of the prism P2 is
(1) 5.33  (2) 4 (3) 3 (4) 2.6
33. An achromatic prism is made by combination of two prisms P1 ( µF = 1.523 , µC = 1.515 )

and P2 ( µF = 1.666 , µC = 1.650 ) . If the angle of prism P1 is 10  , then the angle of

prism P2 would be:

(1) 5 (2) 7.8 (3) 10 .6 (4) 20 

34. When white light is passed through a prism, it undergoes dispersion because
(1) light has seven wavelengths
(2) prism is of triangular shape
(3) refractive index of the prism material is different for different colours
(4) velocity of light is same in the prism as well in air.

35. The refractive index of a glass slab depends upon

(1) the colour of the incident light (2) the intensity of the incident light
(3) the angle of incidence (4) the thickness of the glass slab

36. The brilliance of diamond is

(1) entirely due to refractive index (2) entirely due to total internal reflection
(3) partly due to total internal reflection (4)none of the above

37. The largest angle of minimum deviation occurs when light of one of the following
colours passes through a prism
(1) Indigo (2) Green (3) Red (4) Yellow

38. A ray of light from a sodium lamp undergoes total internal reflection. The critical angle
will be smallest when it travels from
(1) water to glass (2) glass to air (3) glass to water (4) water to air

39. Total internal reflection occurs when light travels from

(1) a medium of high refractive index of a medium of low refractive index
(2) a medium of low refractive index to a medium to high refractive index
 (3) a crystalline material to a glass
(4) air into water

40. The critical angle of light passing from glass to air is minimum for
(1) Red (2) Green (3) Yellow (4) Violet