s  d v d

refractiVe inDex anD snells law examples

Reraction takes place at the boundary between two media.
In general, a wave that crosses the boundary will undergo a
change o direction. The reason or this change in direction is
the change in wave speed that has taken place.
As with refection, the ray directions are always specied by
considering the angles between the ray and the normal. I a
ray travels into an optically denser medium (e.g. rom air into
water) , then the ray o light is reracted towards the normal.
I the ray travels into an optically less dense medium then the
ray o light is reracted away from the normal.
1. Parallel-sided block
A ray will always leave a parallel-sided block travelling in a
parallel direction to the one with which it entered the block.
The overall eect o the block has been to move the ray
sideways. An example o this is shown below.
incident ray
glass

normal
ray leaves block
parallel to incident ray
2. Ray travelling between two media
refracted I a ray goes between two dierent media, the two individual
incident ray ray less dense medium reractive indices can be used to calculate the overall reraction
using the ollowing equation
more dense medium n
n 1 sin 1 = n 2 sin 2 or __
1
sin 
_____2
n = sin 
2 1

n1 reractive index o medium 1

1 angle in medium 1
n2 reractive index o medium 2
ray refracted 2 angle in medium 2
towards normal
Suppose a ray o light is shone into a sh tank that contains
water. The reraction that takes place would be calculated as
normal shown below:
1 st reraction:
air water sin a
= _____
refracted (n air = 1.0) glass (n water = 1.3) n glass sin b
ray (n glass = 1.6)
incident ray more dense medium 2nd reraction:
c nglass  sin b =
less dense medium
b nw ate r  sin c
a
ray refracted away nglass sin c
_____ _____
from the normal nw ate r = sin b

Snells law allows us to work out the angles involved.

When a ray is reracted between two dierent media, Overall the reraction is rom incident angle a to reracted
sin(angle o incidence)
________________
angle c.
the ratio is a constant. sin a = _____
sin a  _____
sin b
sin(angle o reraction) i.e. no ve rall = _____
The constant is called the reractive index n between the two sin c sin b sin c
media. This ratio is equal to the ratio o the speeds o the = nw a te r
waves in the two media.
sin i
_____ =n refractiOn Of plane waVes
sin r
I the reractive index or a particular substance is given as a The reason or the change in direction in reraction is the change
particular number and the other medium is not mentioned in speed o the wave.
then you can assume that the other medium is air (or to be normal
absolutely correct, a vacuum) . Another way o expressing this medium 1
is to say that the reractive index o air can be taken to
( e.g. air)
be 1 .0.
i
For example the reractive index or a type o glass might be boundary
given as medium 2 (e.g. glass) r
ng la s s = 1 .34 wavelength smaller
This means that a ray entering the glass rom air with an since speed reduced refracted ray
incident angle o 40 would have a reracted angle given by
Snells law (an experimental law o reraction) states that
sin 40
sin r = _______ = 0.4797
1 .34 the ratio ____
sin i
sin r
= constant, or a given requency.
 r = 28.7 The ratio is equal to the ratio o the speeds in the dierent media
n g la s s sin  a ir Va ir n1 sin 2 V2  speed o wave in medium 2
ngla s s = ____ _______
n a ir = sin  = _____ ___ ______ ___
g la s s
Vg la s s n 2 = sin  = V1  speed o wave in medium 1
1

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ro d  
tOtal internal reflectiOn anD critical angle examples
In general, both refection and reraction can happen at the 1. What a sh sees under water
boundary between two media. entire world outside water is
It is, under certain circumstances, possible to guarantee visible in an angle of twice the
complete (total) refection with no transmission at all. critical angle
This can happen when a ray meets the boundary and it is
travelling in the denser medium.
n1< n2 partial
transmission

1 grazing
emergence
n1 critical angle c
n2
c total At greater than the critical angle, the surface
2 reection of the water acts like a mirror. Objects inside
1 2 the water are seen by reection.
3 2. Prismatic refectors
O
source partial reection A prism can be used in place o a mirror. I the light strikes the
Ray1 This ray is partially refected and partially reracted. surace o the prism at greater than the critical angle, it must
be totally internally refected.
Ray2 This ray has a reracted angle o nearly 90. The
critical ray is the name given to the ray that has a Prisms are used in many optical devices. Examples include:
reracted angle o 90. The critical angle is the angle  periscopes  the double refection allows the user to see
o incidence c or the critical ray. over a crowd.
Ray3 This ray has an angle o incidence greater than the critical  binoculars  the double refection means that the
angle. Reraction cannot occur so the ray must be totally binoculars do not have to be too long
refected at the boundary and stay inside medium 2. The  SLR cameras  the view through the lens is refected up to
ray is said to be totally internally refected. the eyepiece.
The critical angle can be worked out as ollows. For the critical ray, periscope binoculars
n1 sin 1 = n 2 sin 2 The prism arrangement delivers the
image to the eyepiece the right way
1 = 90 up. By sending the light along the
instrument three times, it also allows
2 =  c
the binoculars to
1
 sin c = ___ be shorter.
n2
eyepiece
lens
metHODs fOr Determining refractiVe inDex
experimentally
Part of ray identied
in several positions
objective lens
glass
block 1. Locate paths taken by dierent rays either by sending a ray
through a solid and measuring its position or aligning objects
Part of ray in Part of by eye. Uncertainties in angle measurement are dependent on
block can be inferred ray identied protractor measurements. (See diagrams on let)
from measurements 2. Use a travelling microscope to measure real and apparent
depth and apply ollowing ormula:
ray heading towards
centre will not be real depth o object
n = _______________________
refracted entering the block apparent depth o object
3. Very accurate measurements o angles o reraction can be
semi-circular
glass block achieved using a prism o the substance and a custom piece
o equipment call a spectrometer.

centre

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