From The Physics Classroom’s Physics Interactives http://www.physicsclassroom.

com ©The Physics

Classroom, All Rights Reserved This document should NOT appear on other websites. Refraction
Exploration Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to explore the behavior of a ray of light at the
boundary between two materials. Variables that would affect the behavior of light will be investigated.
Background: This activity centers around the behavior of light when it reaches the boundary or interface
that separates two materials. To begin, look up, read about, and define the following terms. (You could
consider using the Search bar on The Physics Classroom.) Reflection: Refraction: Transmission: Angle of
Incidence: Angle of Refraction: Index of Refraction: Navigate to the Refraction Interactive in the Physics
Interactives section of The Physics Classroom's website. Explore the environment - move the laser, fire
the laser, manipulate the protractor to measure angles, change the top and bottom substance and
observe all results. Once you're familiar with the environment, begin exploring the questions listed in
the next section. Your teacher will tell you how many questions and/or which questions to explore. As
you tackle a question, think about what variables you will change variables and what variables you will
keep constant; and think about what observations and/or measurements you must make in order to
answer the question. Record your findings and then answer the question using a claim-evidence-
reasoning format. The claim is the answer to the question; the evidence is a reference to collected data
that have been recorded; and the reasoning is a clear and logical discussion of how the evidence
supports the claim that you are making. Your teacher will give you instructions as to how and where you
will record the data and conclusions for each question that you are assigned. From The Physics
Classroom’s Physics Interactive http://www.physicsclassroom.com ©The Physics Classroom, All Rights
Reserved This document should NOT appear on other websites. Questions: 1. Are there conditions
under which the incident light ray undergoes reflection but not transmission at the boundary? If so, then
what are those conditions? 2. Are there conditions under which the incident light ray undergoes
transmission across the boundary without actually bending (or refracting)? If so, then what are those
conditions? 3. The amount of light that undergoes reflection or transmission is demonstrated by how
bright the reflected or transmitted ray is. Under what conditions is the amount of transmission
maximized and the amount of reflection minimized? 4. What affect does an increase in the angle of
incidence have upon the angle of reflection? 5. What affect does an increase in the angle of incidence
have upon the angle of refraction? 6. Under what conditions are the angles of incidence greater than
the angles of refraction? 7. Every substance has its own unique index of refraction (n). For light passing
from air to another material, what affect does increasing the angle of incidence have upon the angle of
refraction? 8. Under what conditions is the angle of incidence greater than the angle of refraction? And
under what conditions is the angle of incidence less than the angle of refraction? 9. How does the index
of refraction of Unknown #1 compare to the index of refraction of oil? 10. How does the index of
refraction of Unknown #2 compare to the index of refraction of oil? 11. Now think of your own testable
question. Use the simulation to answer the
Purpose: To investigate the effect of the angle of incidence upon the brightness of a reflected ray and
refracted ray at a boundary and to identify the two requirements for total internal reflection. Getting
Ready: Navigate to the Refraction Interactive at The Physics Classroom website:
http://www.physicsclassroom.com/Physics-Interactives/Refraction-and-Lenses/Refraction Navigational
Path: www.physicsclassroom.com ==> Physics Interactives ==> Refraction and Lenses ==> Refraction
Getting Acquainted: Once you've launched the Interactive and resized it, experiment with the interface
to become familiar with it. Observe how the laser can be dragged about the workspace, how it can be
turned On (Go button) and Cleared, how the substance on the top and the bottom of the boundary can
be changed, and how the protractor can be toggled on and off and repositioned. Also observe that there
is an incident ray, a reflected ray and a refracted ray; the angle for each of these rays can be measured.
Part 1: Reflection and Refraction Set the top substance to Air and the bottom substance to Water. Drag
the laser under the water so that you can shoot it upward through the water at the boundary with air
(don't do this at home ... nor in the physics lab). Toggle the protractor to On. Then collect data for light
rays approaching the boundary with the following angles of incidence (Θincidence). If there is no
refracted ray, then put "--" in the table cell for the angle of refraction (Θrefraction). Finally, rank the
brightness of the reflected rays using a "1" for brightest and a "6" for dimmest. Do the same for the
brightness/dimness of the refracted rays, using a "1" for the brightest. Collect the data and answer the
follow-up questions.

1. Use the patterns in the data table to complete the following paragraph. As the angle of
incidence increases, the angle of refraction _____________________ (increases, decreases) and
the refracted ray becomes __________________________ (brighter, dimmer). As this occurs,
the reflected ray becomes ___________________ (brighter, dimmer). For light passing across
the boundary from water to air, the angle of refraction is always _________________________
(greater than, less than) the angle of incidence. Because of this, the refracted ray will reach 90°
______________ (before, after) the incident ray reaches 90°. 2. There are certain angles of
incidence for which incident light in water does not refract into the air; instead the light
undergoes total internal reflection. Is it possible for an incident light ray present in the air to
approach the boundary with water and undergo total internal reflection? Use the simulation to
study this question; explain your answer below.
1. Use the patterns in the data table to complete the following paragraph. As the angle of incidence
increases, the angle of refraction _____________________ (increases, decreases) and the refracted ray
becomes __________________________ (brighter, dimmer). As this occurs, the reflected ray becomes
___________________ (brighter, dimmer). For light passing across the boundary from water to air, the
angle of refraction is always _________________________ (greater than, less than) the angle of
incidence. Because of this, the refracted ray will reach 90° ______________ (before, after) the incident
ray reaches 90°. 2. There are certain angles of incidence for which incident light in water does not
refract into the air; instead the light undergoes total internal reflection. Is it possible for an incident light
ray present in the air to approach the boundary with water and undergo total internal reflection? Use
the simulation to study this question; explain your answer below.

Part 2: The Critical Angle You observed in Part 1 that there is a range of angles for which the incident
light in water does not refract into the air but instead undergoes total internal reflection. For light
passing from water to air, this occurs for angles of about 49° and higher. The incident angle of 49° is the
so-called critical angle. By definition, the critical angle is the angle of incidence for which the angle of
refraction is 90.0°. Any incident light approaching the boundary at angles greater than the critical angle
will undergo total internal reflection. Use the simulation to find the critical angle for the following
situations. Get as close as you can to finding the critical angle. If there is no such critical angle (i.e., no
total internal reflection), then indicate "--" for the critical angle.
3. Analyze the Part 2 data. Observe that there are two situations in which there was no critical angle and
no total internal reflection. What do these situations have in common that make them different than
situations in which there was a critical angle? Explain. 4. Complete the following paragraph: Light
approaching a boundary will undergo total internal reflection (TIR) if the n value of the incident medium
is ________________________ (greater, less) than the n value of the refractive medium. That is, TIR
occurs for light traveling from a _________________ (more, less) dense medium to a
_________________ (more, less) dense medium. The second requirement for total internal reflection is
that the angle of incidence is ___________________ (greater, less) than the critical angle. 5. Use your
observations of the patterns to predict which light ray - A, B, C, or D - would be more likely to undergo
total internal reflection for the following situations