1. What is Reflection of Light?

When a ray of light approaches a smooth polished surface and the light ray bounces back, it is
called the reflection of light. The incident light ray which lands upon the surface is said to be
reflected off the surface. The ray that bounces back is called the reflected ray. If a perpendicular
were to be drawn on reflecting surface, it would be called normal. The figure below shows the
reflection of an incident beam on a plane mirror.

2. Laws of Reflection
The laws of reflection determine the reflection of incident light rays on reflecting surfaces, like
mirrors, smooth metal surfaces, and clear water. Let’s consider a plane mirror as shown in the
figure above. The law of reflection states that

• The incident ray, the reflected ray and the normal all lie in the same plane
• The angle of incidence = Angle of reflection

3. What is refraction of light? Write the postulates of refraction of light?

Refraction is the bending of light as it is passes from one substance to another. The bending is
caused by differences in density between the two substances.
Postulates of refraction of light: The Laws of Refraction
(i) Incident ray, reflected ray, refracted ray and the normal of the system lie in the
same plane.
(ii) Incident ray, coming from one medium to the boundary of another medium, is
refracted with a rule derived from a physicist Snells. He found that there is a
constant relation between the angle of incident ray and angle of refracted ray.
This constant is the refractive index of second medium relative to the first
medium.

4. What is critical angle? What is total internal reflection?

Critical angle: For a particular value of the angle of incidence, the angle of refraction becomes
90°.The angle of incidence, that cause the refracted ray in the rarer medium to bend through 90°
is called critical angle.

Total internal reflection: When the angle of incidence becomes larger than the critical angle, no
refraction occurs. The entire light is reflected back into the denser medium. This is known as a
total internal reflection of light. Prisms, binoculars, optical fibers are few applications and uses of
Total internal reflection.

When the ray of light traveling in the denser medium enters into a rarer medium, it bends away
from the normal. If the angle of incidence ‘φ1’ increases’ the angle of refraction ‘φ2’ also increases.

Total internal reflection takes place only when:

• The light should pass from a denser medium to a rare medium.

• The angle of incidence must be greater than the critical angle.
 5. What is an optical fiber? Write how optical fibers works?
Optical fiber: Optical fiber is a type of cabling technology that uses light to carry voice and data
communications (telecommunications) over distances both great and small. It is a very thin
strand of plastic or glass that is used to transmit messages via light.
How optical fibers works: The optical fiber works on the principle of total internal reflection by
which light signals can be transmitted from one place to another with a negligible loss of energy.
Light rays can be used to transmit a huge amount of data. The optical cables are designed such that
they bend all the light rays’ inwards. Light rays travel continuously, bouncing off the optical fiber
walls and transmitting end to end data.

The inner part of the fiber optics is called core that carries the light and an outer concentric
shell is called cladding. The core is made of glass or plastic or a relatively high index of refraction.
The cladding is made of glass or plastic, but of relatively low refractive index. Light entering from
one end of the core strikes the core-cladding boundary at an angle of incidence greater than the
critical angle and is refracted back into the core. In this way, light travels many kilometers with a
small loss of energy.

6. What is refractive index?

In optics, the refractive index or index of refraction of a material is a dimensionless number that
describes how fast light travels through the material. it can also be defined as the ratio of the
velocity of a light ray in an empty space to the velocity of light in a substance, n = c/v.