THE SOUTH INDIAN CULTURAL

ASSOCIATION SCHOOL NO.3, NIPANIA

SESSION:2022-2023
INVESTIGATORY PROJECT

THE REFRACTIVE INDICES OF DIFFERENT

LIQUIDS USING A HOLLOW PRISM
GUIDED BY: SUBMITTED BY:
MRS. SAMRUDDHI KULKARNI

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 CERTIFICATE

It is hereby to certify that, the original and genuine

investigation work has been carried out to investigate
about the subject matter and the related data collection
and investigation has been completed solely, sincerely
and satisfactorily done by

_________________and _______________ of Class XII,

SICA SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL NO-3, regarding the
project titled, “REFRACTIVE INDICES OF VARIOUS
MEDIUMS”

Signature of Guide Principal’s Signature

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The successful completion of any task would be

incomplete without mentioning the names of those
people who helped to make it possible. I take this
opportunity to express my gratitude in few words and
respect to all those who helped me in the completion of
this project.

It is my humble pleasure and to acknowledge my deep

senses of gratitude and a kind thanks to my Physics
teacher_________________________ for her valuable
support, constant help and guidance at each and every
stage, without which this project would not have come
forth.

I also register my sense of gratitude to our principal

_____________________________for her immense
encouragement that has made this project successful.

I would also like to thank my friends and family for

encouraging me during the course of this project.

Last, but not the least, I would like to thank CBSE for
giving us the opportunity to undertake this project.

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 Index

1. Aim 5
2. Apparatus Required 6
3. Theory
 Refraction 7
 Cause of refraction 8
 Laws of refraction 9
 Prism 10
 Refraction through a prism 11
 Refractive index 13
4. Procedure 14
5. Observation
 Water 15
 Sunflower oil 16
 Glycerin 17
6. Conclusion 18
7. Precautions 19
8. Bibliography 20

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 AIM

 To find out the refractive indices of different liquids

using a hollow prism

Refraction through a prism

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 Apparatus Required

1. Hollow glass prism

2. Water
3. Sunflower oil
4. Glycerin
5. A4 size sheet
6. Bell pins
7. Pencil
8. Scale
9. Protractor

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 THEORY

Refraction

Refraction is the bending of a wave when it passes from

one medium to another. The bending is caused due to
the differences in density between the two substances.

Refraction of light is one of the most commonly observed

phenomena, but other waves like sound waves and
water waves also experience refraction. Refraction
makes it possible for us to have optical instruments such
as magnifying glasses, lenses and prisms. It is also
because of the refraction of light that we are able to
focus light on our retina.

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Cause of Refraction
A light ray refracts whenever it travels at an angle into a
medium of different refractive index. This change in
speed results in a change in direction. As an example,
consider air travelling into water. The speed of light
decreases as it continues to travel at a different angle.

The refraction of light in glass is shown in the figure

below. When light travels from air into glass, the light
slows down and changes direction slightly. When light
travels from a less dense substance to a denser
substance, the refracted light bends more towards the
normal line. If the light wave approaches the boundary in
a perpendicular direction, the light ray doesn’t refract
despite the change in speed.

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Laws of Refraction

Laws of refraction state that:

 The incident ray refracted ray, and the normal to the
interface of two media at the point of incidence all
lie on the same plane.
 The ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the
sine of the angle of refraction is a constant. This is
also known as Snell’s law of refraction.

SIN I CONSTANT
SIN R

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Prism

Prism is a homogeneous solid transparent and refracting

medium bounded by two plane surfaces inclined at an
angle. The commonly used prism has two triangular faces
that are parallel to each other and three rectangular
surfaces. They are made from glass or other transparent
material cut with precise angles. Two of the three
rectangular faces are polished and are called refracting
surfaces. The angle between these two rectangular faces
is called the refractive angle of the prism.
Prisms are made in different shapes depending on the
application. Triangle is the traditional shape of the prism.
The triangular prism separates the white light into
constituent colors when it is passed through the prism.

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Refraction through Prism

Let A, B, C be the glass of the prism. Suppose BC is the

base and AB and AC are its two refracting surfaces. From
the above figure, we can say that OP is the incident. The
ray traveling through the rarer medium is the incident ray.
As the ray PQ strikes the surface of the glass, it is called as
the refracted ray or is the emergent ray which comes out.

When the ray light enters the glass, it bends towards

normal and when ray comes out, it bends away from the
normal. Now the angle between the emergent ray and
incident ray is the angle of deviation. For a single
refracting surface,  δ = |i – r|

In this case, δ = (i1 + i2) – (r1 + r2)

δ = i1 + i2 – A, A is the angle between the prism between

two lateral surfaces. We know that ∠A and ∠Q is 180º and
Angle of the prism of (A) is r1 + r2

r1  is the angle of refraction inside the prism and r2 is the

angle of refraction outside it.

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 For an angle of minimum deviation, δ is minimum and i1 =
i2 = i

δmin = 2i – A

For small A, δ = (µ – 1) A

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Refractive Index

The refractive index is a common phenomenon, which is

being observed almost daily.
A light ray changes its direction when it travels from one
medium to another medium. It happens due to the
variation in the speed of light in each medium. The speed
of light in a vacuum is 3* 10 8 meter per second and speed
of light in air is 2.98*108 meter per second.

The refractive index/index of refraction is defined as the

ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum to the speed of the
light in the medium. The value of the refractive index
varies from one medium to another. In other words, the
refractive index is the measure of the bending of the light
ray during the travel from one medium to another
medium.

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 Procedure

1. Fix a white sheet of paper on the drawing board with

help of drawing pins.
2. Keep the prism and mark the outline of it as ABC.
3. Drop a normal PQ on the side AB.
4. Draw the angle of incidence in accordance with the
normal PQ and place 2 pins so that they appear to be
in the straight line.
5. Place the prism filled with given sample of liquid, on
the marked outline ABC.
6. Now take the pins and place them on the side AC so
that all the 4 pins appear to be in same line.
7. Remove the prism and draw the line joining the
points so obtained.
8. Repeat this with different liquids and different angle
of incidence

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 Observation

Water

Sno Angle of Prism Angle of Incidence Angle of Deviation

1 60 30 25
2 60 35 22
3 60 40 20
4 60 45 22
5 60 50 25

The refractive index of water is 1.333

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Sunflower Oil

Sno Angle of Prism Angle of Incidence Angle of Deviation

1 60 30
2 60 35
3 60 40
4 60 45
5 60 50

The refractive index of sunflower oil ranges from 1.461 to

1.473

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Glycerin

Sno Angle of Prism Angle of Incidence Angle of Deviation

1 60 30
2 60 35
3 60 40
4 60 45
5 60 50

The refractive index of glycerin is 1.467

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 Conclusion

Refractive indices at room temperature:

WATER
Actual:
Experimental:

SUNFLOWER OIL
Actual:
Experimental:
GLYCERIN
Actual:
Experimental:

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 Precautions

1. Angle of incidence should lie b/w 35-60 degree.

2. Pins should be vertically fixed and should lie in same
line.
3. Distance b/w two points should not be less than
10mm.
4. Same angle of prism should be used for all
observation.
5. Arrow head should be marked to represent
emergent and incident ray.

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 Bibliography

1. file:///C:/Users/lenovo/Downloads/hollow-prism-
physics-investigatory-project-class-12-
cbse_compress.pdf
2. https://byjus.com/
3. https://www.wikipedia.org/
4. https://www.vedantu.com/
5. https://www.toppr.com/

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