Scribd
Upload
302 views2 pages

Snell's Law Refraction Experiment Guide

This document describes an experiment to verify Snell's Law of Refraction. A glass block is placed on a protractor and a light ray is shone through it at various angles of incidence. The corresponding angles of refraction are measured. The sines of the angles of incidence and refraction are plotted on a graph, which should form a straight line through the origin according to Snell's Law. The slope of this line gives the refractive index of the glass. Repeating the experiment provides an average value for the refractive index.

Uploaded by

Nur Hazimah
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
302 views2 pages

Snell's Law Refraction Experiment Guide

This document describes an experiment to verify Snell's Law of Refraction. A glass block is placed on a protractor and a light ray is shone through it at various angles of incidence. The corresponding angles of refraction are measured. The sines of the angles of incidence and refraction are plotted on a graph, which should form a straight line through the origin according to Snell's Law. The slope of this line gives the refractive index of the glass. Repeating the experiment provides an average value for the refractive index.

Uploaded by

Nur Hazimah
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
  • Verification of Snell's Law of Refraction

VERIFICATION OF SNELL’S LAW OF REFRACTION

Apparatus
Glass block, lamp-box, 0-3600 protractor, (photocopied from page 56 of Physics A Teacher’s
Handbook)

Lamp-box

0 - 360° Protractor

i
Glass Block
A

C
Procedure
1. Place a glass block on the 0-3600 protractor in the position shown on the diagram and
mark its outline.
2. Shine a ray of light from a lamp-box at a specified angle to the near side of the block
and note the angle of incidence.
3. Observe the ray of light leaving the glass block and similarly mark the exact point B
where it leaves the glass block.
4. Remove the glass block. Join BA and extend to C.
5. Note the angle of refraction r.
6. Repeat for different values of i.
7. Draw up a table as shown.
8. Plot a graph of sin i against sin r.

Results
i/° r/° sin i sin r sin i
sin r

sin i
Average value of =
sin r
A straight line through the origin verifies Snell’s law of refraction i.e. sin i ∝ sin r .

The slope of the line gives a value for the refractive index of glass.

sin i
The refractive index of glass is equal to the average value of .
sin r

Notes
Look directly down through the glass or plastic block to measure the angle of refraction.

Print the 360° protractor directly from page 56 of ‘Physics A Teachers Handbook’ to obtain
the clearest delineation of the marked angles.

A semi-circular glass block can be used instead of the rectangular block.

A commercial model of the 360° protractor is also available. The model has a ‘rotating’
protractor housed in a horizontal rectangular base.

VERIFICATION OF SNELL’S LAW OF REFRACTION Apparatus Glass block, lamp-box, 0-3600 protractor, (photocopied from page 56
Procedure 1. Place a glass block on the 0-3600 protractor in the position shown on the diagram and mark its outline. 2.

You might also like