5.

3 Total Internal Reflection

PREPARED BY:
PHYSICS DEPARTMENT
SBP INTEGRASI TEMERLOH
2006
► The inside surface of water can act like a perfect
mirror.
► This happens when the light rays in the medium strike the
surface of water
► The internal reflection of light at the surface in a
medium is know as total Internal reflection
► This depends on the angle at which light rays in the
medium strike the surface of the medium
 Total Internal Reflection and Critical Angle

► When light travel from denser medium to a less dense

medium for example from water into air, it bends away
from normal and a small part of incidence ray is reflected
inside the water
► As the angle of incidence, i increases, the angle of refraction, r also
increase
► The refracted ray travels along the air-water boundary when incident
ray equal to the critical angle of water ( i = c )

► Critical angle = angle of incidence when the angle of refraction is 90°

► This is the limit of the light ray that can be refracted in air ( cannot
be any larger than 90°
► if the angle of incidence is increased further than
the critical angle (i>c), the light is no more
refracted, but is internally reflected

► The ray of light is entirely reflected from the

surface at an angle of incidence is called as total
internal reflection
 Two conditions for total internal reflection to
occur are

1. Light ray travel from a denser medium to a less dense

medium

2. The angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle of

the medium
 Relationship between critical Angle and refractive Index

► The refractive index of medium

sin i
n
sin r
i= angle between the ray with the normal in air
r= angle between the ray with the normal in medium
► The refractive index of water:
sin i (in air )
n
sin r (in water)
sin 90 0

sin c
1
 or
sin c
1  1 
c  sin  
n
 Example 1
(a) A glass block has a refractive index n = 1.52. Calculate the critical
angle,c for glass
(b) The critical angle for water is 490C. Determine the refractive index
of water

Solution

((ba))There
Critical angle
fractive forofglass
index water
1 1  1 
nc  sin 0 
sin 49  n 
 1.33 1  1 
 sin  
 1.52 
 41 0
Example 2

► Figure beside shows the path of a

light ray from glass to air.
Which is the correct path of the
light ray?
Solution:
The angle of incidence (in glass)
= 900-400
= 500 > Critical angle

Total internal reflection occurs,

The correct path the light ray is LOS
 Example 3
Figure shows a fish in a pond. The fish can see a prawn behind
a rock
(a) If the refractive index of water is 1.33, what is the critical
angle of water?
(b) Draw the path of a light ray to show how the fish can see
the prawn

(b) The light ray1 from

(a) n 
prawn must be
incident onsinthe
c water
surface at an 1 angle,1 I
c  48.75
sin than
larger  0for
n 1.33
it to be totally
c  48.75
reflected into the
0 eye

of the fish
Natural phenomena involving
total internal reflection
(a) Mirages

- Resulted from refraction and total

internal reflection

- On a hot day, a person will see an

imaginary pool of water appearing
on the surface of the road (mirage)

• The layer of air near the ground are hotter

• The layers higher up are cooler and denser
• Since, the refractive index of air depends on its density – the lower (hotter
layer) have a lower refractive index than the layer above them
• Light from sky is refracted gradually towards the horizontal after passing
through the different layers of air of different density
• It meets a layer of air near the ground at an angle greater than the critical
angle.
• Total internal reflection takes place and the light is reflected upwards
Rainbow
 Rainbow
► A rainbow is a colourful natural
phenomenon caused by refraction,
dispersion and total internal reflection
of light within water droplets.
► When sunlight shines on millions of water droplets in the air
after rain
► We will see a multicoloured arc
► When white light from the sun enters the raindrops
► It is refracted and dispersed into its various colour
component inside the raindrops
► When the dispersed light hits the back of the raindrop, it is
then refracted again as it leaves the drop
► The colours of a rainbow run from violet along the lower
part of the spectrum to red along the upper part
 Applications of
Total Internal Reflection
(a) Totally reflecting prisms
 Images produced by total internal
reflection are brighter than those
produced by mirrors
 When the light rays strike the
inside face of a right –angled
glass prism with angle of incidence,i
greater than the critical angle,c,
(420 for glass) total internal
reflection occurs
 A 450/450 prism is capable of bending light rays through 900
 Optical instruments such as the periscope and binoculars
make use of total internal reflection within glass prisms
rather than reflection by mirrors
 The image seen through a periscope is upright and of the
same size as the object
 The first prism forms an inverted image and the second
prism invert it back to normal
(b) Prism Periscope
•Is built using two right- angled
prisms made of crown glass
•Light rays from the object incident
normally on one side of the first
prism pass straight on until they
strike its hypotenuse face at an
angle of 450
•The angle of incidence is greater
than the critical angle of glass
(c=420), so the ray are totally
reflected out from this prism
•These emergent rays then incident normally on a second prism
and strike its hypotenuse face at an angle of 450 which is
greater than the critical angle
•Thus the rays are totally reflected again before reaching the
eye of the observer to see the hidden object, O
• The image produced is upright and has the same size as the
object
• Advantages of the prism periscope compared to a mirror
periscope:
(a)The image is brighter because all the light energy is
reflected
(b)The image is clearer because there are no multiple
images as formed in a mirror periscope
• A periscope can be used to view objects behind obstacles
• In submarines, periscopes are used to observed ships on
the surface of the sea
(c) Prism binocular
•It also based on the effect of a prism on rays of light
•A ray of light experiences two total internal reflection at prisms A
and B respectively
•The arrangement of two prisms with their hypotenuse faces parallel
but diagonal perpendicular to each oyher
•It will produces a final image which is upright and not laterally
inverted
The benefits of using prisms in binoculars:

(a) An upright image is produced

(b) The distance between the objective lens and the eyepiece
is reduced
(a) This make the binocular shorter as compared to a
telescope which has the same magnifying power
(d) Fibre Optics

•Total internal reflection is also used in optical fibres.

•An optical fibre consists of an inner core of high refractive index
glass and surrounded by an outer cladding of lower refractive index
•When the light is introduced into the inner core at one end,it will
propagate along the fibre in a zigzag path and will undergo a series
of total internal reflection
► Optical fibres are useful in having light to inaccessible places

► They are used in many important practical applications.

► Endoscope is an instrument made of optical fibre cable. It is

used by doctors to see inside of human body such as heart and
duodenum

► In telecommunication ,copper cables are now replaced by optical

fibre in the telephone system

► Multiple signals can be sent at high speed through a bundle of

fibre by using flashes of light from a laser
Advantages of using optical fibres

i. They are much thinner ang lighter

ii. A large number of signals can be sent through them at one
time
iii. They transmit signals with very little loss over great distances
iv. The signals are safe and free from electrical interferences
v. They can carry data for computer and TV programmes
THE END