A change in direction of the path of light when it passes from one transparent medium to another

transparent medium is called refraction.

Cause of Refraction :
When a Ray of light passes from one medium to another medium its direction changes because of the
change in speed of light in going from one medium to another.

Laws of refraction :
i) the incident ray, the reflected ray and the normal at the point of incidence all lie in the same plane

ii) Snell's law : The ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is
constant for a pair of given media

The constant is called the refractive index of the second medium with respect to the first medium.

Refractive index :
Refractive index of one medium with respect to another medium is defined as the ratio of speed of light in
the first medium to that in second medium.

Absolute refractive index

Absolute refractive Index of a medium is defined as the ratio of speed of light in vacuum to the speed of
light in that medium.

Relation between wavelength and refractive index

Frequency of a light depend on its source,. So frequency of light do not change with refraction.
Now we know

Factors affecting Refractive Index of a medium

i) nature of the medium : More the optical density of a medium, more will be its refractive index.

ii) temperature of the medium : refractive index of a medium is inversely proportional to its temperature.

iii) colour (wavelength) of the light : refractive index of a medium is inversely proportional to its
wavelength.

Principle of reversibility of path of light

According to this principle the path of light ray is reversible.
Refraction of light through rectangular glass block

Lateral displacement
The emergent ray does not undergo any angular shift with respect to the incident ray but it gets shifted
laterally as shown in the figure.
Factors on which Lateral displacement depends :
i ) it is directly proportional to the thickness of the block

ii ) it is directly proportional to the angle of incidence

iii) it is directly proportional to refractive index of the slab. so lateral displacement is more in case of violet
light then for red light.

Prism
A Prism is a transparent medium bounded by five plane surfaces with a triangular cross section.

Refraction of light through a glass prism

Factors affecting the angle of deviation Angle of deviation
i) angle of incidence

When angle of Incidence is low initially angle of deviation is high then as angle of incidence increases then
angle of deviation becomes minimum and then again with increase in angle of incidence angle of deviation
increases.

Angle of Incidence versus angle of deviation

graph

ii) refractive index of the prism ( directly proportional )

iii) Angle of prism ( directly proportional)

iv) wavelength of the incident light ( inversely proportional)

Some consequences of refraction of light :

Relation between critical angle and refractive index

Factors affecting the critical angle between a pair of media :
i) Critical angle increases with increase in wavelength of light.
ii) Critical angle increases with increase in temperature.

Total Internal reflection

When a ray of light travelling in a denser medium, is
incident at the surface of a rarer medium at the
angle of incidence greater than the critical angle for
the given pair of media the ray is totally reflected
back into the denser medium. This phenomenon is
called total internal reflection.

Essential conditions for the Total internal reflection to occur :

i) the light must travel from a denser to rarer medium

ii) the angle of incidence must be greater than the critical angle for the pair of media

Total Internal Reflection in a prism

Use : This action of prism is used in a periscope

where a prism is preferred over a mirror
Some consequences of total internal reflection