Light “Refraction” and “Reflection”

Presented by: Dr. Yehya Haidar

Email: haidar_88@live.com
Phone: 70049665

Thursday, December 2 @ 4 PM (CS)

Friday, December 3 @ 3 PM (ENG)
 Definition
• Light is a particle ( photons) and the flow of photons is a
wave.
• The light wave travels with a given speed C.
• The light wave results from the combination of an electric
field and magnetic field.
• The light wave is characterized by:
 Speed of light in several medium 𝑣
 Wavelength of the light 𝜆
 Frequency of the light wave 𝑓
𝑣 𝑣
𝑣 = 𝜆𝑓 𝑠𝑜 𝑓 = 𝑜𝑟 𝜆 =
𝜆 𝑓
𝑚
𝑣: 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑠
, 𝜆: 𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑛 𝑚

𝑓: 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝐻𝑧

 Measurements of the Speed of Light –
Fizeau’s Method
•This was the first successful method for measuring the speed of
light.
•It was developed in 1849 by Armand Fizeau.
•He used a rotating toothed wheel.
•The distance between the wheel (considered to be the source) and
a mirror was known.
•d is the distance between the
wheel and the mirror.
•Δt is the time for one round trip.
•Then c = 2d / Δt
•Fizeau found a value of
c = 3 x 108 m/s.
 Several phenomena can be studied from the wave property of
light as reflection, refraction and dispersion.

•Ray optics (sometimes called geometric optics) involves the

study of the propagation of light.
•It uses the assumption that light travels in a straight-line path in a
uniform medium and changes its direction when it meets the surface
of a different medium.
•The ray approximation is used to represent beams of light.
 Optical path and refractive index
The path of a light ray (optical path) in the homogeneous medium
given by an index n (refractive index) is the product of the
propagation of the light speed v and the time t.
S
optical path: SI1I2 d1
n1 I1 Medium 1(air)
𝑑 =𝑣×𝑡 n2 Medium 2 (Glass)
𝑐 𝑐 d2
𝑛 = implies 𝑣 =
𝑣 𝑛 I2

𝑛×𝑑 =𝑐×𝑡
𝛿 = 𝑛1 𝑑1 + 𝑛2 𝑑2 , 𝛿 is called optical path
 Refraction of Light
•When a ray of light traveling through a transparent medium
encounters a boundary leading into another transparent medium,
part of the energy is reflected and part enters the second medium.
•The ray that enters the second medium changes its direction of
propagation at the boundary.
• This bending of the ray is called refraction.
The angle of refraction depends upon the material and the angle of
incidence.

𝑛1 sin 𝜃1 = 𝑛2 sin 𝜃2 (Snell’s Law)

𝑛1 = 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑥 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑢𝑚

𝑛2 = 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑥 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑢𝑚

𝜃1 = 𝐼𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 , 𝜃2 = 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒

 Refracted ray
When the light ray travels from a less
refractive index to a more refractive index
𝑛1 < 𝑛2
According to the Snell’s law

𝑛1 sin 𝜃1 = 𝑛2 sin 𝜃2
𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛1 < 𝑛2
𝑆𝑜 sin 𝜃1 > sin 𝜃2
• The incident angle is greater than
𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝜃መ1 > 𝜃መ2 the refracted angle.

• The refracted ray moving toward

the normal.
 When the light ray travels from a less refractive index to a
more refractive index, NO REFLECTION
Since 𝑛1 < 𝑛2 , we conclude that 𝜃መ1 > 𝜃መ2
• If we increase the incident angle 𝜃መ1 from 0 to 90 degrees,
the refracted angle 𝜃መ2 must remain below 𝜃መ1 .
• The refracted angle increase from a to a maximum value
less than 90 degrees.
𝜃෠1 = 90 ° 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝜃෠2 = 𝜃෠2𝑚𝑎𝑥
According to the Snell’s law
𝑛1 sin 𝜃1 = 𝑛2 sin 𝜃2 𝜃መ1 = 90 °

𝑛1 sin 90 ° = 𝑛2 sin 𝜃෠2𝑚𝑎𝑥

𝑛1 𝜃መ 2 = 𝜃መ 2𝑚𝑎𝑥
sin 𝜃መ2𝑚𝑎𝑥 =
𝑛2
 Refracted ray
When the light ray travels from a more
refractive index to a less refractive index
𝑛2 < 𝑛1
According to the Snell’s law

𝑛1 sin 𝜃1 = 𝑛2 sin 𝜃2
𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛2 < 𝑛1
𝑆𝑜 sin 𝜃2 > sin 𝜃1
• The refracted angle is greater than
𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝜃መ2 > 𝜃መ1 the incident angle.

• The refracted ray moving away the

normal.
 When the light ray travels from a more refractive index to a
less refractive index, TOTAL REFLECTION is obtained in
such condition.
Since 𝑛2 < 𝑛1 , we conclude that 𝜃መ2 > 𝜃መ1
• If we increase the incident angle 𝜃መ1 from 0 to some values,
the refracted angle 𝜃መ2 increase staying bigger than the
incident angle.
• The refracted angle reaches the separation surface before
the incident angle.
𝜃መ1 = 𝜃መc
𝜃෠2 = 90 ° 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝜃෠1 = 𝜃෠c
𝜃መ 2 = 90 °

According to the Snell’s law

𝑛1 sin 𝜃1 = 𝑛2 sin 𝜃2
𝑛2
𝑛1 sin 𝜃෠c = 𝑛2 sin 90 ° sin 𝜃መc =
𝑛1