AM

To determine the angle of minimum devlation for a glven glass prism

by plotting a graph between the angle of Incidence and the angle of
deviatlon.

ApPARATUS AND MATERIAL REQUIRED

Drawing board, triangular glass prism. metre scale, alpins,
cellotape/drawing pins. graph paper. protractor, white paper sheets.

PRINCIPLE
A
triangular
prism has three
rectangular lateral surfaces and
bases. line
two triangular The
faces
along which any two
(refracting surfaces) of the prism
meet is the refracting edge of the

prism and the angle between

them is the angle of the prism. For
P
this it is
to
experiment,
place the
convenient
prism with its

rectangular surlaces vertical. The

8
principal section ABC of the prism {l-n+ le-r)
=

+e-A
is obtained by a horizontal plane
perpendicular to the reiracug Fig. E 13.1 Refraction of light through a glass prism
edge (Fig. E 13.1).

first face AB at
A ray of light (from air to glass) incident o n
Pg the
an anglet is refracted at an angle r along 9R and finally, emerges
RS. The dotted in the figure represent the normal to the
along lines
surfaces. The angle of incidence (from glass to air) at the second
face AC is r and the angle of refraction (or emergence) is e. The

angle between the direction of incident ray PO(produced lorward)

is the
and the direction of emergent ray RS (produced backward)
of deviation d.
angle
ROCEDURE
. Fix a white sheet of paper on a drawing board with the help of
cellotape or drawing pins.
2. Draw a straight line XY, using a sharp pencil nearly in the middle
and parallel to the length of the paper.
3. Mark points O. O. O . on the straight line XY at suitable
distances of about 8 to 10 cm and draw normals N, O,. N,O, N
O on
these points (Fig. E 13.2).
N
P

R,

S, S, S,

Mg. E 13.2 Refraction of light through glass prismfor various angles of tnciclerce
a

4. Draw straight
lines, P, O,. P 0. P, O . corresponding to the
incident rays making angles of incidence at 35, 40. 45, 50. .. 60
respectively with the normals, using a protractor. Write the values
ofthe angles ZP, O, N. ZP, O, N. 2P, O, Ng.. on the white
paper sheet ( Fig. E 13.2).
5. Place the prism with its refracting face AB on the line XY with
point O, in the middle of AB as shown in the figure. Draw the
boundary of the prism with a sharp penci.
 6. Fix two alpins P, and sharp tips vertically about
9, with
that pln
cm apart. o n the incident ray line P 9, such
9, 1s close point O,.
to Close one eye (say left) and looking through
the prism, bring your right eye in line with the images of the pins

Pand 9, Fix alpins R and SS apart vertically on the

about 10 cm

white papersheet with their tips line of the

In with the tips
of pins P and 9. In this way pins R, and S, will become collinear,
images
with the images of pins P, and

and encircle their pin pricks the

7. Remove the pins R and S, on

white paper sheet with the help of a sharp Remove the

pencil.
also.
pins P, and 9, and encircle their pin pricks
8. Join the points (or pin pricks) R and S, with the help ofa sharp
it
pencil and scale,
to obtain
the emergent ray R S. Produce
backwards to meet the incident ray P9, (produced forward) at
of
T. Draw arrowheads on P,9, and R, S, to show the direction
the rays.
of deviation , and the angle BAC (angle A) of
9. Measure the angle
the prism (Fig. E 13.1) with a protractor and write the values of
these angles indicated in the diagram.

10. Repeat steps 5 for diflerent values of angle of incidence (40,

to 9
45, 50..) and measure the corresponding angles of deviatlon

with the protractor, and indicate them in the respective

o.
diagrams.
11. Record observations in tabular form with proper units and
significant figures.

UBSERVATIONS
Least count of the protractor=...(degree)
Angle of the prism. A =...(degree)

of incidence, i and angle of

Table E 13.1: Measuring the angle
deviation ö for a prism

of deviation. 6 (degrees)
SI. No. Angle of incidence, f (degrees)|Angle

2
3

10
 Plotting the graph between i and 8 Jor the prism
Take angle of incidence ialong x-axis of ð
and angle devlation along
y-axis, using the observed values from Table E 13.1. Choose sultable
scales on these axes and plot a graph between tand 8. Take care that
you draw a free hand smooth curve passing practically through all
the plotted points on the graph (Fig. E 13.3).

65

0 n= 1.60, A =
60

50

******

0
30 40 50 60 70 0

(in degrees)

Fig.E13.3 Graph betueen angle of incidence and angle of devtation

CALCULATIONS
Draw tangent on the lowest point of the graph parallel to x-axls, read
the of minimum
angle deviation
o, on the y-axis of the graph. Express
the result with proper slgnificant
11gures.

RESULT Angle of minimum deviation. 8,... degree

PRECAUTIONS
1.Alpins should be fxed vertically to the plane of paper.
2. Distance P and RS should be about 10 cm in order to locate
incident and emergent rays with greater accuracy.
3. Same angle of prism should be used for all
observations
4. Position of the prism should not be disturbed for a
given set of
observations.
JoURCES OF ERROR
1. fthe three angles of refraction between adjacent pairs offaces are
not equa, then A + ö*ite.
2. There may be an error in measuring the values of the angles.
novaphbtuca 4celeo incidana Acd angle e dauiati

Se

Yasre

A
 2