Bending of Light

Protocol 14

Question: If we put a container closer to the current to shorten the fall of the water,
would it change anything?

Background research:
This bending by refraction makes it possible for us to have lenses, magnifying glasses, prisms
and rainbows. Even our eyes depend upon this bending of light. Without refraction, we wouldn’t
be able to focus light onto our retina.

Light refracts whenever it travels at an angle into a substance with a different refractive
index (optical density).

This change of direction is caused by a change in speed. For example, when light travels from
air into water, it slows down, causing it to continue to travel at a different angle or direction.

The amount of bending depends on two things:

Change in speed – if a substance causes the light to speed up or slow down more, it will refract
(bend) more.
Angle of the incident ray – if the light is entering the substance at a greater angle, the amount of
refraction will also be more noticeable. On the other hand, if the light is entering the new
substance from straight on (at 90° to the
surface), the light will still slow down, but it
won’t change direction at all.
According to Snell's law, a ray of light will
change its angle when it hits the
boundary between one medium (water)
and another (air). So the light is actually
bouncing back and forth in straight lines
within the stream of water, as if trapped
in a hall of mirrors.

Snell's law (also known as Snell–Descartes

law and ibn-Sahl law and the law of refraction) is a formula used to describe the relationship
between the angles of incidence and refraction, when referring to light or other waves passing
through a boundary between two different isotropic media, such as water, glass, or air. This law
was named after the Dutch astronomer and mathematician Willebrord Snellius (also called
Snell).
In optics, the law is used in ray tracing to compute the angles of incidence or refraction, and in
experimental optics to find the refractive index of a material.
The law is also satisfied in meta-materials, which allow light to be bent "backward" at a negative
angle of refraction with a negative refractive index.
Snell's law states that, for a given pair of media, the ratio of the sines of the angle of incidence
θ1 and angle of refraction θ2 is equal to the ratio of phase velocities (v1 / v2) in the two media, or
equivalently, to the refractive indices (n2 / n1) of the two media.
The law follows from Fermat's principle of least time, which in turn follows from the propagation
of light as

Snell's law is used to determine the direction of light rays through refractive media with varying
indices of refraction. The indices of refraction of the media, labeled n1, n2 and so on, are used
to represent the factor by which a light ray's speed decreases when traveling through a
refractive medium, such as glass or water, as opposed to its velocity in a vacuum.
As light passes the border between media, depending upon the relative refractive indices of the
two media, the light will either be refracted to a lesser angle, or a greater one. These angles are
measured with respect to the normal line, represented perpendicular to the boundary. In the
case of light traveling from air into water, light would be refracted towards the normal line,
because the light is slowed down in water; light traveling from water to air would refract away
from the normal line.
Refraction between two surfaces is also referred to as reversible because if all conditions were
identical, the angles would be the same for light propagating in the opposite direction.
Snell's law is generally true only for isotropic or specular media (such as glass). In anisotropic
media such as some crystals, birefringence may split the refracted ray into two rays, the
ordinary or o-ray which follows Snell's law, and the other extraordinary or e-ray which may not
be co-planar with the incident ray.

Hypothesis: Probably the laser can be reflected in the container and can't see the final part of
the laser.
Materials:
1-A laser
2-A bottle of water
3- A screw
4- A container
5- Some Water (the enough to fill the bottle)
Procedure:
❖ We put the container in a table
❖ Then we put the bottle of water on the container.
❖ Then we do a hole to the bottle
❖ And then start the project

Observations:

Conclusion: