PATH DEVIATION OF LIGHT

Introduction:

Light moves in a straight line in a given medium and at a certain speed. The speed changes
from one medium to the other depending on its refractive index. When light hits a smooth
surface at an angle (angle of incidence), it is reflected back at an angle (angle of reflection). Light
can also “moves to the next medium at a other angle (angle of refraction), and this depends on
refractive indices of the media involved”. With refraction, light bends from its starting path as it
traverses the interface of two media. The degree of deviation is proportional to the refractive
index of the medium, which is the light bending ability of the medium from its original path.
Each medium has different refractive index it has symbole n. The refractive indices for some
common substances under the room temperature are given in the following table:

Material Refractive index (n)

Glass 1.20
Water 1.4
Air 1.31
Quartz Crystal 1.8
Obsidian 1.12
ink 1.9
By knowing the refractive index of air, it is possible to calculate the refractive indices of all
other materials. In addition with an incident ray traversing two media with different refractive
indices, the incident ray, the normal to the interface separating two media and the refracted ray
point of cutting at a common point and occur on the same plane. If light travels from a medium
with lower refractive index n1 to another medium with higher index n2, it moves towards the
perpendicular and vice versa. Mathematically, both angles can be related by using the simple
equation which has the following from:

n1sinθ1 = n2sinθ2

Here n1 and n2 show the refractive indices of media one and media two respectively and θ1 and
θ2 represent the angle of striking and refracted angle respectively.

Experimental Systems:

The experimental devices required for this experiment includes opticals (lenses-parallel slab),
white paper, scale, protractor, pen, soft board and safety pin,thermometer,glass tube,battery etc.

Experimental Method:
 In this experiment, the outline of the glass block was traced on a white piece of paper that was
secured on a soft board. The block was removed and using a scale; a perpendicular was drawn on side of
the outline. An angle θi (12o) was then recorded, and a line drawn using a pen before the glass was
changed. Two pins were then placed normally above the line. While focusing from the opposite end of
the block, two pins were placed to meet with the initial two on the opposite side. The glass block was
then replaced, and a line was put and produced joining the two pins to intersect the line. At the point of
intersection with the line, a line was put to meet the other outline. The angle (θt) “was measured and
noted”. This was repeated for θi = 30o, 40o and 50o. A graph of sin θi against sin θt was then plotted for
observation.

Theoretical Model:

By using the Snell’s Law, n1sinθ1 = n2sinθ2. But since our fixed medium one is air (n=1) then it
follows that:

sinθ1 = n2sinθ2

This equation is in the form of y = mx +b that is equation of a straight line; where m = n2 which is the
refractive index of the second media. In this situation, a graph of sin θi against sin θt produces a straight
line with slope equal to the refractive index of the glass medium.

Results and Decisions:

Angle of incidence (θi) Angle of Refraction (θt) sin θi sin θt

0⁰ 0⁰ 0 0
 20⁰ 6⁰ 0.18 0.17
30⁰ 13⁰ 0.34 0.221
40⁰ 20⁰ 0.5 0.35
50⁰ 25⁰ 0.64 0.45

In this experiment, the validity of Snell’s Law was observed. According to this a plot of sin θi verses
sin θt would result in a line that goes through the origin with the gradient showing the refractive index of
the other media. From the outcomes above, the experiment produced reasonable results though the
best line of fit didn’t pass through the point of meeting. This could be attributed to interference because
of the reference medium (air). This could be averted in the future experiments by using the free space as
the reference medium, and when observed under standard temperature. Also, white light is subject to
interference, yielding good outcomes. These are some of the errors that play role in the bending of the
resulting refractive index of glass. Future experiments ought to explore same light (sodium D) as an
incident ray to avoid interaction due to seperating.

Conclusion:

In this experiment, the results showed Snell’s Law, which shows a linear relationship between sin
θincident and sin θrefractive with the slope representing the bending abality. However, the resulting refractive
index was not authentic for glass due to experimental uncertainty. Future experiments should consider
performing the experiment in a free space and using same (sodium D) light to obtain correct results.

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Done By:

1) Ibrar Hussain
2) Muhammad Ali
3) Daud Danial
4) Moiz Ahmad Malik