Optics HW #2: Total Internal Reflection.

1. p. 511 of textbook, #95

2. p. 510 of textbook, #76

3. p. 511 of textbook, #102

4. A beam of light is incident from air on the surface of a liquid. If the angle of incidence
is 30.0° and the angle of refraction is 22.0°, find the critical angle for the liquid when
surrounded by air.

5. A plastic light pipe has an index of refraction of 1.53. For total internal reflection,
what is the minimum angle of incidence if the pipe is in (a) air? (b) water?

6. Determine the maximum angle θ for which the light rays

incident on the end of the light pipe in the figure at right
are subject to total internal reflection along the walls of
the pipe. Assume that the light pipe has an index of
refraction of 1.36 and that the outside medium is air.

7. Consider a common mirage formed by superheated air

just above a roadway. A truck driver whose eyes are 2.00 m
above the road, where n = 1.000 3, looks forward. She has the illusion of seeing a patch
of water ahead on the road, where her line of sight makes an angle of 1.20° below the
horizontal. Find the index of refraction of the air just above the road surface. [Hint: Treat
this as a problem one involving total internal reflection.]

8. As shown in Figure P22.49, a light ray is incident

normal to on one face of a 30°–60°–90° block of
dense flint glass (a prism) that is immersed in water.
(a) Determine the exit angle θ4 of the ray.
(b) A substance is dissolved in the water to increase
the index of refraction. At what value of n2 does total
internal reflection cease at point P?

9. A light ray traveling in air is incident on one face

of a right-angle prism with index of refraction
n = 1.50, as shown in the figure below, and the ray follows the path shown in the figure.
Assuming that θ = 60.0° and the base of the prism is mirrored, determine the angle
made by the outgoing ray with the normal to the right face of the prism.
Solutions:
4. Using Snell’s law, the index of refraction of the liquid is found to be

Thus,

5. When light attempts to cross a boundary from one medium of refractive index into
a new medium of refractive index , total internal reflection will occur if
the angle of incidence exceeds the critical angle given by .

(a) If

(b) If

6. The critical angle for this material in air is

Thus, and from Snell’s law,

7. The light must be totally reflecting from the surface of a hot air layer just above the
road surface. The angle of reflection, and hence the critical angle, is
.

Thus, from , we find

8. (a) From the geometry of the figure at
the right, observe that .
Also, from the law of reflection,
. Therefore,
, and
or
.

Then, since the prism is immersed in

water , Snell’s law gives

(b) For refraction to occur at point P, it is necessary that .

Thus, , which gives

9. From the sketch at the right, observe that
the angle of incidence at A is the same as
the prism angle at point O. Given that
, application of Snell’s law at
point A gives

or

From triangle AOB, we calculate the

angle of incidence and reflection, , at
point B:

or

Now, we find the angle of incidence at point C using triangle BCQ:

or

Finally, application of Snell’s law at point C gives

or