REFRACTION OF LIGHT…….

TOPIC 2
 Refraction is bending of light light at the interface where it travels from one medium to another with
different optical density.
 A ruler immersed partially in water appears bent .
 A coin submerged in water appears relatively near the surface
 At this phenomenon as illustrated below atre as a result of refraction of light .

 The ray transverse the medium and goes undeviated if it hits the interface at 90°.
 The ray bends towards the normal for more optically denser medium and far away from the medium
for less optically denser medium .
 NB/ WE can explain refraction by use of velocities light travels at a velocity C= 3.0x 10 8 m/s .in
vacuum the velocity reduces in other media .this reduction in velocity leads to reduction in direction
of light.

 What difference do you note in the diagram above.

1. The path P,O,Q in A is reversed to in B

2.The angles in A exchange roles in B

1. This is the principles of reversibility of light which states that : light traces the same path even if the
direction of light is changed .
2. Give an experiment on refraction of light .
LAWS OF REFRACTION .
give an experiment to verify the laws of refraction

 The laws include: 1. The incident ray, the refracted ray and the normal at the point of incidence all
lie on the same plane.
 2. The ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of
refraction is a constant for a given pair of media .
EXAMPLE

1. A student carried out an experiment to determine the refractive index of a transparent material in
form of a rectangular block she obtained the following results.
2.
REFRACTIVE INDEX
 This is the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to that of the sine of the angle of refraction .