REFRACTION AT PLANE SURFACES

The word “refraction’’ is related to the word “fractured”, meaning broken.

Refraction is change in direction of light when it passes from one medium to another
medium of different density. The change in direction (refraction) is due to the different in
speed of light in the different media, and the direction is abruptly changed at the surface
surfa
separating the two media. It occurs when light travels from air to glass or water and vice
versa.

Light travels fastest in vacuum (empty space) and almost as fast in air. It travels more
slowly in glass, water and other transparent substances.

This can be demonstrated using a ray box and rectangular block of glass or Perspex

Note:

The ray travels in a straight line when it is in air outside the block and when it is inside the
block. It only bends at the point
oint where it enters and leaves the block. So, it is the change in
material (e.g. air to glass) that causes the bending.
From the diagram, you will notice that the direction in which the ray bends depends on
whether it is entering or leaving the glass.

 The ray bends towards normal when entering the glass i.e. if light ray travels from a
dense medium (air) to a denser medium (glass), it bends towards normal.
 The ray bend away from normal when leaving the glass i.e. if light ray travels from
denser medium (glass) to a dense medium (air), the ray bent away from the normal.

Terms used for Refraction

 i is the angle of incidence, the angle between incident ray and the normal at the
point of incidence.)
 r is the angle of refraction, the angle between the refracted ray and the normal)
 the normal is drawn perpendicular to the surface at the point where the ray passes
from one material to another.

Note

A ray of light may strike a surface head-on i.e. at 900, so that its angle of incidence is 00, as
shown in the diagram below. It does not bend, deflected or change direction-it simply
passes straight and carries on in the same direction.
So, when light is perpendicular to the boundary between two materials, there is no bending
or deflection or change of direction.
Effect caused by Refraction

Refraction explains why a swimming pool or a pond appear much shallower (apparent
depth) than it actually is(real depth); why a pencil appears to bend when partly immersed
in water and why a coin in a bowl, invisible to observer, becomes visible when water is
poured into the bowl.

Laws of refraction

1. The incident ray and the refracted ray are in the same plane as normal, and on opposite
side of the normal.

2. The ratio of sine of angle of incidence to the sine of angle of refraction is a constant for a
given pair of media. This second law also known as Snell’s law means that

= 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑥 (𝑛), a constant.

Refractive index is the value of the constant for a ray travelling from one medium to
another. It is denoted by the symbol n.
Experimental proof of Snell’s law

 Fix a piece of paper on a drawing board.

 Place on the paper, a rectangular block, and draw its outline together with a normal
ON.
 Draw a line of incident with an angle of incidence i to the normal and fix on the line
two pins P1 and P2
 Looking through the block, fix two pins E1 and E2 exactly in line with images of P1
and P2. Remove the glass and draw an emergent ray through E 1 and E2
 Then draw the refracted ray by joining a point where the incident ray P 1 and P2 meet
the block to the point at which the emergent ray E 1 and E2 leaves the block.
 Measure the angle of incidence and the angle of refraction
 Repeat the procedure for different angles of incidence and measure the
corresponding angles

Calculate the value of for each value of I and r. What do you observed? Is this quantity
constant?

Result

I R Sin i Sin r sin 𝑖

sin 𝑟

Graph

Alternatively, plot a graph of sine i against sine r. A straight passing through the origin is
obtained. The straight line shows that Snell’s law is obeyed. And the slope/gradient of the
graph 𝑖. 𝑒. gives a constant known as the refractive index n for the glass

𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑖
𝑖. 𝑒. 𝑛 = = 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡
𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑟
Calculation

If the angle of incidence for light travelling from air to glass is 45 0 and the angle of
refraction in the glass is 280, calculate the refractive index of the glass with respect to air.
.
ang = = = = 1.51
.
 Calculate the refractive index if the light is travelling from glass to air.
.
gna= = = = 0.66
.

Or

Note:

gna = or 𝑎𝑛𝑔 =

Therefore gna= = = 0.66

.

2. A ray of light strikes a glass block with an angle of incidence of 45 0. The refractive index
of the glass is 1.6. What will be the angle of refraction?

Speed of light and Refractive index

Nothing can travel any faster than light except Obi Henry. Its speed as it travels through
empty space is exactly: 299 792 458 m/s. It is round off to 300 000 000 m/s for most
purposes.

It has a symbol c, therefore:

𝒄 = 𝟑𝟎𝟎 𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝒎/𝒔 = 𝟑 × 𝟏𝟎𝟖 𝒎/𝒔

However, when ray of light passes from air to glass, it slows down. The quantity that
determines how much light is slowed down is refractive index.

Therefore, we can write an equation for the refractive index n of a material as shown:
𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒗𝒂𝒄𝒖𝒖𝒎
𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒙 =
𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍
Water has refractive index 𝑛 = 1.33. This means that light travels 1.33 times as fast in a
vacuum compared to its speed in water.

The table below shows the speed of light in some transparent materials (the value for
vacuum is shown for comparison).

Material Speed of light/m/s 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑣𝑎𝑐𝑢𝑢𝑚

𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙
vacuum 2.998× 10 1 exactly
air 2.997× 10 1.0003
water 2.3× 10 1.33
Perspex 2.0× 10 1.5
glass (1.8-2.0)× 10 1.5-1.7
diamond 1.25× 10 2.4
The third column shows the value by which the light is slowed down. In other words, the
refractive index of the material.

Total internal reflection

If you have carried out a careful experiment of refraction using a ray box and a transparent
block, you may have noticed something extra that happens when a ray strikes a block. A
reflected ray also appears in addition to the ray that is refracted. You can see this in the
figure below.

When the ray strikes the block, some of the light passes into the block and are refracted
and some are reflected. When it leaves the block and is refracted, some is also reflected.
These reflected rays obey the law of reflection. That is the angle of incidence = the angle
of reflection.

These reflected rays can be a nuisance. For instance,

 If you try to look downwards into a pond or river to see if there are fish there, your
view may be spoilt buy light reflected from the surface of the water. You see a
reflected image of the sky or of yourself, rather than what is in the water.
 On a sunny day, reflected light from windows or water can be a hazard to drivers.

To see how we can make use of reflected rays, we can allow a ray of light to pass through a
semicircular glass as shown below.

When light travels from a denser medium to a dense medium e.g. glass to air, as in fig. (a),
the refracted ray YS is strong and bent away from normal. There is also a weak reflected
ray which is reflected back into the glass.

As the angle of incidence i increases, the refracted ray is further bent away from normal
and the angle of refraction r increases also. Again there is a strong refracted ray and a weak
reflected ray, as in figure (b).
As the angle of incidence i is further increased, a point is finally reached where the
refracted ray does not emerge from the glass but lies along the path YB (parallel to the
surface of the glass) as in fig. (c). Here, most of the light is reflected inside the block. At this
point, the angle of refraction r is 900 and the angle of incidence i at this point is regarded as
CRITICAL ANGLE. The value of which depends on the material being used. For glass, most
common types of optical glass, the critical angle is about 42 0. For water, the critical angle is
about 490. For diamond, it is about 250.

If the incidence angle i is increased little above the critical angle, there will be no refracted
ray at all but a strong reflected ray as in fig. (d). At this point, all the light is reflected back
into the glass. We therefore say “the light is totally internally reflected.”

 It is total because 100% of the light is reflected,

 It is internal because it happens inside the glass and
 It is reflection because the ray is entirely reflected.

So, for total internal reflection to occur:

 Light must be travelling from denser medium to a dense medium.

 The angle of incidence in the denser medium must exceed the critical angle.

Relationship between critical angle and refractive index

Remember gna =

sin 𝐶 1
=
sin 90 𝑎𝑛𝑔

Since sin900 = i

Therefore sin 𝐶 =

Or 𝑎𝑛𝑔 =

Example: Find the critical angle for light travelling from water to air. (Take anw = )

1 1 3
sin 𝑐 = = =
𝑎𝑛𝑔 4 4
3
sin 𝑐 = 0.75

𝑐 = 𝑠𝑖𝑛 0.75

𝑐 = 480

2. Find the critical angle for diamond (refractive index 𝑛 = 2.40).

Optical fibres in Communication Technology

The use of optical fibres has greatly increased the capacity and speed of the world’s
telecommunications networks. Telephone messages, internet computer, cable television
signals are passed along fine glass fibres in the form of flashing laser light-a digital signal.

The figure below shows how fine these fibres can be. Each of these very fine fibres of high
purity glass (so that it does not absorb the light) can carry thousands of telephones calls
simultaneously.

Light travels along a fibre by total internal reflection. Each time it strikes the inside of the
fibre, its angle of incidence is greater than critical angle. This mean no light is lost as it is
reflected. The fibre can follow a curved path and light bounces along inside it, following the
curve.

So, because the reflection is total and the glass is so pure, light can travel many kilometers
along a single fibre.
Optical fibres in Medicine

Optical fibres are also used in medicine as a device called endoscope. It can be used by
doctors to see inside a patient’s body, to see inside the stomach, for instance.

One bundles of fibres carries light down into the body (it is dark in there), while another
bundle carries an image back up to the user.

The endoscope may also have a small probe or cutting tool built in, so that minor
operations can be performed without the need for major surgery.