LABORATORY ACTIVITY

THE LAW OF REFLECTION AND REFRACTION

FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS:
Most of the things around us do not emit their own light. When the source
of light falls on the surface of the material, it is either re-emitted or absorbed in
the material without changing its frequency. Reflection process occurs when light
is returned into the medium form which it came. Refraction process occurs when
light is absorbed by the transparent material.

Theoretical lead to the following conclusions:

1. The incident, reflected, refracted rays and the normal line to the surface all
lie in the same plane

2. The ratio of the incidence ray is equal to the angle of reflection ray for all
wavelengths

3. The ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of
refraction is equal to the inverse ratio of the indexes of refraction
OBJECTIVES:
1. Understand what happens to light when it hits a reflective
surface

PART I. REFLECTION OF LIGHT

PROCEDURE:

 For this activity you will use the online simulator by clicking on
the link: https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/bending-light
- Make sure you have pressed the intro button on the bottom of the
page so the screen looks like the image

- Note the “Normal” is the hatched vertical line at 90 o to the boundary

- Drag the protractor so that the zero lines up with the normal line.

- Rotate the light so it is pointing at the 10 o angle, note TO the normal.

Measure the light bouncing off the surface only, and write it in the
table

Angle of incidence Angle of reflection

10o 10o
20o 20o
30o 30o
40o 40o
50o 50o
 60o 60o
70o 70o
80o 80o

1. Part of the law of reflection states that the incident ray, the
normal, and the reflected ray all lie in the same plane. Discuss
how this is shown in your activity.
Answer: A plane is a flat surface where a ray of light hits, also
known as incident ray. The ray that bounces off the plane is
called a reflected ray. The normal is a line drawn perpendicular
to the plane, dividing the angles formed by the incident ray, called
angle of incidence and the reflected ray, called angle of
reflection.

2. What relationship holds between the angle of incidence and the

angle of reflection?
Answer: The law of reflection states that when a ray of light hits a
surface and is reflected back, the angles formed; angle of incidence
and angle of reflection are equal to each other.

PART II. REFRACTION OF LIGHT

PROCEDURE:

 For this activity you will use the online simulator by clicking on
the link: https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/bending-light
1. Upon opening the simulator, you can observe a laser directed at
45o angle downwards to the right. At the right side of the interface
are two information boxes indicating the mediums shown on the
screen (air, water)

2. Click the red button on the laser. List down two behaviors that the
light exhibits upon hitting the surface of the water.
Answer: ∙ Light bends as it hits the water.
∙ Light is absorbed 94.71% by the water and the other
5.29% is reflected away.

3. At the bottom left of the interface, you may see several tools
available for use. Select the green tool that looks like a magnifying
class. Move this tool into the water area.

4. Take this lens and drag it directly over the light coming from the
laser before it hits the surface of the water (incident ray). Notice
that you can measure the intensity of the light when the lens is
placed over the beam. Complete this table:
 LASER POINTED AT 45O FROM THE VERTICAL
Location of lens Intensity of light
Beam of light before it hits the
surface of the water
100%
Beam of light in the water 94.71%
Beam of light being reflected off
the surface
5.29%
5. Set aside the lens, and then select the protractor tool. Place the
protractor over the vertical dotted line so that the dotted line runs
straightly aligned through zero. Confirm that the laser incident ray
is coming in at 45o.

6. Adjust the laser pointer so that you change the angle of the
incident ray. Adjust the laser point so that it is at 10 o to the left of
the zero mark or the vertical dotted line. Once the laser is set in
this location, you may return back the protractor, and complete
this table again using the lens
LASER POINTED AT 10O FROM THE VERTICAL
Location of lens Intensity of light
Beam of light before it hits the
surface of the water
100%

Beam of light in the water 97.87%

Beam of light being reflected off
the surface
2.13%
7. Repeat step 6, but this time, set the incident ray at 80 o to the left
of the zero mark.

LASER POINTED AT 80O FROM THE VERTICAL

Location of lens Intensity of light
Beam of light before it hits the
surface of the water
100%
Beam of light in the water 54.80%
Beam of light being reflected off
the surface
45.20%
 8. Based on what you have observed, describe the relationship of the
incident ray and the percentage of light that is transmitted through
the water, and percentage of light that is reflected
Answer: The higher the angle pointed from the vertical, the lower
the percentage of light that is being absorbed compared to the
reflected. While the lower the angle from the vertical, the higher the
percentage of light being absorbed compared to the reflected.

9. Describe how the angle of the incident ray compares to the

reflected ray off the surface of the water. You may use the
protractor for more accurate observation
Answer: The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.

10. Click the reset button at the bottom right of the interface. You can
change the medium at the medium information box at the right. For
each of the following, show (sketch) how light bends and reflects
using the different medium boundaries.

1. Water and Glass

Water
Glass

1. Air and Water 2. Air and Glass

Air Air
Water Glass
 11. Try using different mediums so that a denser medium is placed
above a less dense medium. Using the protractor, bring the
incident ray to 60o angle. Sketch and label your choices below and
demonstrate the behavior of light at 60o angle of incidence.

Water
Air

12. Describe the behavior of light when the laser is moved down in an
angle between 60o and the surface of the less dense medium below
Answer: All of the incident ray is reflected back.

13. What is this angle called?

Answer: Angle of refraction. (?)

GUIDE QUESTIONS

1. Physicists expend a great deal of energy in attempting to increase

the accuracy with which an exact law can be proven valid. How
might you test the Law of Reflection to a higher level of accuracy
than in the simulation you just performed?
Answer: Increasing the number of observations, taking observation
values in different environments, taking values in a different phase
of time and taking different thicknesses of mirror used.

2. Cite an evidence to support the claim that the frequency of light

does not change upon reflection
Answer: the light of the reflected image is identical to the object
forming the image. The fact that the color is the same is evidence
that the frequency of light does not change upon reflection.
3. Rainbow colors appear in the sky when the sun shines in one part
of the sky and rain is present in the opposite part of the sky.
Explain this phenomenon.
Answer: A rainbow is formed when a raindrop causes the light to
have total internal reflection. This means the light is reflected back
in the direction in the direction it originally came from, hence, you
can only see a rainbow if your back is facing the sun. Water
droplets reflect light with a predictable angle.

4. Two mirrors are oriented at right angles. A ray strikes the

horizontal mirror at an incident angle of 65 o, reflects from it, and
hits the vertical mirror. Calculate the angle of reflected at the
vertical mirror.

θi +65 ° +90 °=180 °

θi=180° −90 °−65 °θi=25° =θr
Normal Ɵr
Ɵi

65o 65o

5. A beam of light has a wavelength of 650 nm in vacuum. What is

the wavelength of these waves in the liquid whose index of
refraction is 1.47?

λ 0 6.5 × 10−7 −7
λ 1= = =442.177 nm=4.4217 x 10 m
n 1.47

6. A parallel beam of light in air makes an angle of 47.5 o with the

surface of a glass plate having a refractive index of 1.66. What is
the angle between the refracted beam and the surface of the glass?

θ1=90° −47.5 °=42.5 °

n1 sin θ1=n 2 sin θ21 ¿
sin 42.5°
θ2=sin−1 =24.0954 °
1.66
θ=90 °−24.01 °=65.99 °∨66 °