Gandel Alyssia 302 23.03.

2019

Experiment about refraction

Goal: There is two part in this experiment. The goal of them to see refraction laws in practice and to
see how we determine the refractive index, its critical angle and how the light bends depending on
angles in different mediums and forms experimentally, and then to check our results with theorical
values.

Theory: When a light from a medium goes into another medium, a part of the light slows down and is
refracted in function of the index of refraction of the new medium, when it is less than 90°. The other
part goes back in the first medium, so it is reflected, and its angle is equal to the one of the incident
ray. The incident ray from the medium n1 and refracted in the medium n2 have respective angles to
the normal. We can calculate them with the formula:

n1 x sin(incident ray)= n2 x sin(refracted ray).

When the index of refraction of the first medium is bigger than the one of the second medium, the
refracted ray is going away from the normal. On the opposite, when the index of refraction of the
second medium Is bigger than the first one, the refracted ray goes toward the normal.

There is also an angle that is called the critical angle. This angle is the maximum angle of the incident
ray passing from one medium to a less dense medium before being only reflected. When the angle of
incidence is equal to the critical angle, the refracted ray has an angle of 90° to the normal. When the
angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle, the light can only be reflected. To calculate the
critical angle, we need to use this formula:

Θc= sin-1 (nr/ni)

Hypotheses and expected results: For both experiments, we know that the first medium of light is
the air. This medium is were the light goes the fastest in Earth and so it will slow down in the second
medium. So, I expected the light to be refracted in the second medium and to bend toward the
normal. Also, the angle of the ray going back to the first medium will be equal to the incident ray will
go away from the normal.

Experimental method:

Material: - A Plexiglas parallel block

- A protractor
- A ruler
- A calculator
- A half of Plexiglas cylinder filled with water
- A half of a Plexiglass cylinder
- An optical disc providing light
Gandel Alyssia 302 23.03.2019

Schematics of the experiment:

1)

2)

Steps followed:

At first, we worked with the parallel face block. We wanted to determine the refractive index and the
deflection distance of the ray passing through the block. We drew the outlines of the block placed on
a sheet of paper. We have then sent an incident beam on a parallel face of the block at an incident
ray to the normal of 40°. We drew the incident and exit ray and an approximate un-deviated ray.
After we measured the four angles on to the normals. Then we determined the refractive index of
the block and compared it with theorical values, and we did the same for the distance between the
incoming and outgoing radius.

The second step was with the half cylinder, once filled with water and once empty. We placed the
vertical disc and the cylinder as it is shown in the schematics of the second experiment. We wanted
an angle of incidence of 10° and we determined the angle of refraction. We did the same with angles
of 20,30,40,50,60,70,80°. Then we increased the angle of incidence until we found the critical angle
and we also determined it by calculations. After, we drew a graph of the sinus of the refracted angle
in function of the sinus of the incident angle and we calculated the slope before verifying it with
theorical values.
Gandel Alyssia 302 23.03.2019

Measurements:

Without water :
Incident angle Refracted angle Sin inc. angle Sin refracted angle

10 7 0.18 0.12

20 13 0.34 0.22

30 20 0.5 0.34

40 25 0.64 0.42

50 30 0.77 0.5

60 35 0.87 0.57

70 39 0.94 0.63

80 42 0.98 0.67

With water :
Incident angle Refracted angle Sin inc. angle Sin refracted angle

10 8 0.18 0.14

20 15 0.34 0.26

30 22 0.5 0.37

40 30 0.64 0.5

50 35 0.77 0.57

60 36 0.87 0.59

70 45 0.94 0.71

80 47 0.98 0.73
Gandel Alyssia 302 23.03.2019

Calculations with results:

Part one:

Refractive index of the block:

n1 x sin1 = n2 x sin2→ sin(40)/ sin(29)= 1.3= n2

During the experiment, we measured the refracted and it was equal to 29°.

The actual value of the index of refraction of the plexiglass is 1.49, so our actual refracted angle
should be of 26°.

Distance between the incoming and outgoing radius:

We first need to find the length of the refracted radius, which is the hypothenuse and we know that
the length of the plexiglass= 3cm.

3cm/cos(28)= 3.39cm=hypothenuse

Know we can find sin(10) x 3.39cm = 0.58 cm so this equals 0.0058m. The actual measured value
equals 0.007m, so this is quite close.

second part without water:

4) The measured critical angle of the half cylinder is equal to 48°.

5) When we verify it theorically, this gives us: sin-1 (n1/n2)→ sin-1 (1/1.3)=50.3°. This is also close to
our result.

6)
Gandel Alyssia 302 23.03.2019

7) The slope is equal to sin (a incident)/sin (a refracted). So, if we that for example the first point, we
do 0.18/0.12= 1.5

We can see that this is almost equal to the actual value of the index of reflection of the plexiglass,
which is 1.49 and this is not surprising because we made the same calculation than we used this
formula to find the index of refraction:

n1 x sin1= n2 x sin2

Now we did the same but with water in the half cylinder:

4) The measured critical angle is equal to 50°.

5) When we verify it theorically, this gives us: sin-1 (n1/n2)→ sin-1 (1/1.3)=50.3°. This is close to our
result.

6)

7) The slope is equal to sin (a incident)/sin (a refracted). So, if we that for example the first point, we
do 0.18/0.14= 1.3

The theory is the same than before and because the index of refraction of water equals 1.3, we know
that the result found is correct.
Gandel Alyssia 302 23.03.2019

Conclusion:

This experiment was very useful to put calculation of refraction in practice. We saw through the
reports that sometimes the results are not exactly the same, but they give us an idea of weather
what we calculated was right or wrong. The hypothesis with measurements and calculations has
been confirmed and in consequence, the goal has been achieved too.