Snells Law

Experimental Verification of Snells Law

Equipment List

Glass Block Ray box Ruler Protractor Power Pack Paper

Method
1. Trace around the glass block with a pencil 2. Mark the Normal 3. Connect the ray box 4. Shine the beam of light from the ray box into the glass 5. Mark the path of the beam of the light before it enters

the block
6. Mark where the light emerges from the block 7. Remove the block and join the line through the block 8. Measure the angle of Incidence and angle of Refraction

with the protractor

9. Repeat the experiment with different angle of Incidences

Brendan Devlin

Snells Law

Diagram

Table of Results
AIR

N GLASS= Sin I Sin R

Angle of Refraction 25 21 22 25 Sin I 0.6561 0.5592 0.5736 0.6018

Angle of Incidence 41 34 35 37

Brendan Devlin

y Ra x Bo

Glass Block R

This is the equation we used to calculate the refractive index.

Sin R 0.4226 0.3584 0.3746 0.4226

Refractive Index =Sin I Sin R 1.552 1.560 1.531 1.424

Snells Law

Calculations
The speed of light in a vacuum is almost equal to the speed of light in air. This means that the refractive index for light in a vacuum to glass is most practical purposes the same for that for light travelling from air to glass. Refractive Index = Speed of light in vacuum Speed of light in material We found the average refractive index to be: 1.51575 Speed of light in Glass (3X108) Speed of light in Glass= 3X108 = 1.78x10
8

1.51575

Reliability
An accurate measurement is one, which is close to the true value. I believe that my experiment and results were reliable. However, by using more precise equipment my results would be even more reliable and constant. The Precision of a measurement is determined by the limits of the scale on the instrument being used. Precision is related to the smallest scale division on the measuring instrument that you are using.

Brendan Devlin