Refraction of light

Objectives

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

Optical density measure of the material to enable transmission of light

The more optical denser the medium, the slower light travels
6

When does refraction occur?

Refraction occurs when 1. there is a change in speed of the light wave, and 2. the light wave approaches the boundary at an angle other than 90 to the boundary.

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.

sin i constant sin r

Also known as Snells Law
Willebrord Snell (1580 1626)
8 from: http://www.iesfelanitx.org/departaments/fisica-quimica/retrats/snell.jpg

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.

speed of light in vacuum c n speed of light in medium v

Refractive index affects how much light bends.
9

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
10

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

11

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

sin 59 sin 40 1.33

12

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

sin 40 sin r sin 40 sin r 1.52 1.52

sin 40 r sin ( ) 1.52 r 25.0

1

13

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

14

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

15

Apparent depth
Due to refraction, the depth of water looks shallower. This perceived depth is called apparent depth.

apparent real depth

16

depth

 You can use apparent depth to calculate the refractive index of a medium.

real depth n apparent depth

17

Distortion of objects
Due to refraction, the stick appears bent underwater.

18

Distortion of objects

19

Multiple images
How many goldfish are there?

20

Investigating Total Internal Reflection

Calculate the angle of refraction of the following light rays. Sketch the refracted ray. The refractive index of glass is 1.50.

air glass 30 41.81 41.82

Applet: http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/ntnujava/index.php?topic=49

21

A light ray enters a glass block:

When the angle of incidence is zero at the glass/air boundary, the ray emerges without deviation.
undeviated ray

i = 0
Semi-circular glass block

air glass

incident ray
22

A light ray exits a glass block:

When the angle of incidence is less than the critical angle, there will be refracted ray and also a weak internal reflection.

ic

Strong refracted ray

i Weak, internally reflected ray

23

A light ray exits a glass block:

When the angle of incidence is equal to the critical angle, the angle of refraction in the less dense medium is 90.

i=c
c c

90

Strong refracted ray Weak, internally reflected ray

24

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

sin i n sin r sin 90 n sin c 1 n sin c

n: refractive index c: critical angle

25

 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
26

Conditions for total internal reflection to occur:

The light ray travels from an optically denser medium to an optically less dense medium. The angle of incidence at the point of incidence is greater than the critical angle of the optically denser medium.

video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q4Cl6sDxu8

27

Example:
A right angled prism is made of glass of refractive index 1.5. A ray of light enters the prism.

45

(a) Calculate the critical angle of the prism (b) Complete the path of the ray until it emerges into the air again.
28

29

30

Applications of total internal reflection

1. Periscopes Can be used to look over high obstacles, eg. wall Consists of 2 prisms positioned at an angle of 45o.

2.

Camera

31

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
32

33

Advantages of using optical fibres:

They are lighter. They are becoming cheaper to manufacture than wires. They can carry more information over long distances than copper wire. They will experience less signal loss as compared to wires during transmission.

34