H. Nature, Reflection and Refraction of Lights

To Be A Leader In Maritime Education & Training
Light
• Light is a form of energy.
• It travels through an intervening medium without
having any effect on that medium and without itself
being visible.
• It only becomes recognizable when it falls on some
body which its then said to be illuminated.
• Light energy reaches us through space from the sun.
• To make light on the earth, we have to make a body so
hot as to become incandescent which it radiates light as
well as heat energy.
• Light travels in a straight line through a medium of
uniform density.
H. Nature, Reflection and Refraction of Lights DNS Semester 1 / Heat & Optic / CKM / July 2014 / 1
Reflection of Light
• A ray from a source of light A falls on a mirror at 0, AO

is the incident ray, OB is the reflected ray and ON is the
normal to the reflecting surface.
• NOA( i ): angle of incidence; NOB ( r ): angle of
reflection
• Laws of Reflection
i. The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of
reflection.
ii. The incident and reflected ray are in the same
plane as the normal to the reflecting surface.
1. Consider the diagram at the right.

Which one of the angles (A, B, C,
or D) is the angle of incidence?
______ Which one of the angles is
the angle of reflection? ______
• 2. A ray of light is incident towards

a plane mirror at an angle of 30-
degrees with the mirror surface.
What will be the angle of
reflection?
3. A ray of light is approaching a set of three

mirrors as shown in the diagram. The light ray
is approaching the first mirror at an angle of
45-degrees with the mirror surface. Trace the
path of the light ray as it bounces off the
mirror. Continue tracing the ray until it finally
exits from the mirror system. How many times
will the ray reflect before it finally exits?
Locates image in a Plane Mirror

Experimentally
Finding image position by no parallax Image in a plane mirror
Position & Nature of the Image in a Plane

Mirror
1. The same distance behind the mirror as the object is in
front.
2. The same size as the object.
3. Laterally inverted.
4. Virtual (it cannot be formed on a screen)

• A virtual image is formed by the apparent intersection
of rays when their directions have been produced
backwards.
• A real image is formed by the actual intersection of
rays.
Formation of the Image in a Plane Mirror.
• The position of the image I can be constructed by

drawing a line through 0 perpendicular to the mirror at
M and making OM = IM.
• The eye sees I apparently by the cone of ray IE1E2.
• The following diagrams depict some ideas about how

light might travel from an object location to an eye
location when the image of the object is viewed in a
mirror. Comment on the incorrectness of the following
diagrams. Discuss what makes them incorrect.
A B
Rotation of Plane Mirror & Reflected Ray
• A beam of light is directed normally on to a mirror.

• The mirror is then turned through an angle of 30°. By
the application of the first law of reflection, the reflected
ray rotates through 60°. The reflected ray rotates
through twice the angle through which a plane mirror is
rotated.
Refraction
• A ray of light may undergo a change of direction as it
passes from one medium to another of different density.
Refraction
• The Laws of Refraction

(I) The incident and refracted ray are on opposite sides of
the normal at the point on incidence and all these are
in the same plane
(II) The ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the
sine of the angle of refraction is a constant (Snell's
Law)
Snell's Law
• Verifies Snell's Law by tracing ray through a rectangular

block of glass.
Refractive Index (n)

• The value of constant, n = sin i / sin r, for a ray passing
from one medium to another is called refractive index of
the second medium with respect to the first
• If the first medium is air, it is usual to speak of n as the

refractive index of the second medium.
• e.g. 1. refractive index of water, n = 1.33
• e.g. 2. refractive index of glass to air, gna = 0.67

(First medium: glass, Second medium: air,
i.e. ray from glass to air)
Apparent Depth & Real Depth
• A thick slab of glass appears to be only two-third of its

real thickness when viewed from vertically above.
• Rays from a point 0 at the bottom of the slab are
refracted away from the normal where they leave the
glass and enter the eye as through coming from a
virtual image I above O.
Real & Apparent Depth related to

Refractive index
• OBC is a ray very close to the normal which enters the

eye from point O. Using the principle of reversibility of
light,
• n = sin i / sin r
= (AB/BI) / (AB/BO)
= BO / BI = AO / AI
= real depth / apparent depth
Total Internal reflection; Critical Angle
• When light passes from one medium to a more optically

dense medium, there will always be both reflection and
refraction for all the angles of incidence.
(Refraction and reflection in a glass block) (Refraction and internal reflection i<c)
• However, this is not always so when light passes from

one medium to a less optically dense medium.
• A ray passing from glass to air. Starting with a small
angle of incidence, a weak internally reflected ray and a
strong refracted ray.
• As the angle of incidence increases, the angle of
refraction also increases and at the same time the
intensity of the reflected rays gets stronger and that the
refracted ray weaker.
• Finally at a certain critical angle of incidence, c, the

angle of refraction becomes 90.
• Since it is impossible to have an angle of refraction
greater than 90°, it follows that for all angles of
incidence greater than the critical angle c, the incident
light under goes total internal reflection.
Critical angle & Refractive Index
• Based on the principle of reversibility of light;

nag = sin i / sin r;
nga = sin r / sin i;
nga = 1 / (nag)
• So, nga = sin c / sin 90° (light passes from one medium
= sin c / 1 to optically dense medium)
nag = 1 / (nga)
= 1 / sin c
e.g. n for water = 1.33, c = 49°
n for glass = 1.5, c = 42°
Prism as Total Internal reflector

• In submarine periscope, light enters the faces of the
prisms normally and falls on the hypotenuse face
internally at angle of incidence of 45°. Total reflection
occurs here, since the critical angle for ordinary glass is
42°.
• In projector, the image is obtained the correct way up
by placing an erecting prism. Light enters the face of
the prism parallel to the base or hypotenuse face. Total
reflection occurs at the base, resulting the rays passing
through are inverted.
Angle of deviation
• Unlike a rectangular prism which simply displaces the
emergent light parallel to its incident direction, a
triangular prism causes the light to be deviated.
• The angle of deviation is the angle between the incident
and emergent rays.
• The deviation is least when the angle of incidence is
equal to the angle of emergence.
emergent ray
emergent ray
Rectangular prism Triangular prism

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To Be A Leader In Maritime Education & Training

• A ray from a source of light A falls on a mirror at 0, AO

1. Consider the diagram at the right.

• 2. A ray of light is incident towards

3. A ray of light is approaching a set of three

Locates image in a Plane Mirror

Finding image position by no parallax Image in a plane mirror

Position & Nature of the Image in a Plane

4. Virtual (it cannot be formed on a screen)

Formation of the Image in a Plane Mirror.

• The position of the image I can be constructed by

• The following diagrams depict some ideas about how

Rotation of Plane Mirror & Reflected Ray

• A beam of light is directed normally on to a mirror.

• The Laws of Refraction

• Verifies Snell's Law by tracing ray through a rectangular

Refractive Index (n)

• If the first medium is air, it is usual to speak of n as the

• e.g. 2. refractive index of glass to air, gna = 0.67

Apparent Depth & Real Depth

• A thick slab of glass appears to be only two-third of its

Real & Apparent Depth related to

• OBC is a ray very close to the normal which enters the

Total Internal reflection; Critical Angle

• When light passes from one medium to a more optically

Total Internal reflection; Critical Angle

• However, this is not always so when light passes from

Total Internal reflection; Critical Angle

• Finally at a certain critical angle of incidence, c, the

Critical angle & Refractive Index

• Based on the principle of reversibility of light;

Prism as Total Internal reflector

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