Data Analysis

The first part of the experiment computes for the index of refraction of the glass using a

set of pins, a glass plate and a derivation of Snell's law. Snell’s law can be simplified as the

constant ratio of sines of the incidence and refraction angle as light passes through different

materials – in this case, from glass to air. To explain further, when the image of the pin that is

formed drew a bent line on the paper, it shows that a bending of light also occurred. The resulted

ratio of the length of line between GH and FL resulted to 4.5cm and 6.8 cm. Computing for the

index of refraction using the equation below, the group obtained a percent error of 0.66% which

qualifies to have almost zero error. This also proves the principle of Snell's law.

GH Eq. 1
n1 =
FL

The last part of the experiment uses the same glass plate, but the goal is to find its critical

angle using light from a laser. The critical angle is the value that will determine if the light

passing through the glass is undergoing normal refraction or total internal reflection which can

be known when θ I <θC and θ I >θC respectively. In this part, it can be observed that a bent ray that

is similar to that from Part A is created when the angle of incidence is less than the angle of

refraction. On the other hand, the ray will not pass through the glass once it reaches a point

which is the case of the critical angle. Looking at the data, the value obtained for the length of

line MU and EU resulted to 5.6 cm and 6.4 cm respectively. Using the equation below, an

experimental value of 41.14° for the critical angle was computed and compared to the accepted

value. This gave out a percent error of 0.12% which means that it qualifies for an accurate data

and proves the principle of Snell’s law.

 MU Eq. 2
θc =tan −1 ( )
EU