[Q] The table below shows measurements taken during an experiment in which a ray of light

is shone at one of the sides of a rectangular block of glass.

angle of incidence, i 26.0⁰ 39.0⁰
angle of refraction, r 15.5⁰ 22.5⁰
sin i 0.438 0.629
sin r 0.267 0.383

What is the refractive index of the glass?

A 1.50 C 1.68
B 1.64 D 1.73

[Ans] B η1 = sin i/sin r = 0.438/0.267 = 1.640

η2 = sin i/sin r = 0.629/0.383 = 1.642
ηaverage = (1.640 + 1.642)/2 = 1.64
[Q] Calculate the angle of incidence when light travels from air to glass. The refractive index
of glass 1.52 and the angle of refraction is 20⁰.
Solution
Data
sin 𝑖
η = 1.52 η=
sin 𝑟
sin 𝑖
r = 20⁰ 1.52 =
sin 20
i=? sin i = 0.520
i = 31.33⁰

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 [Q] Calculate the speed of light in flint glass (η= 1.90)
Solution
Data
𝑐
c = 3 x 108 m/s η=
𝑣
3 𝑥 108
η= 1.90 1.90 =
𝑣

v=? v = 1.57 x 108 m/s

Exercise 1
1. Light (in air) strikes water at an angle of incidence of 45⁰. If the refractive index of water
is 1.33, what is the angle of refraction?
2. Diamond has a refractive index of 2.42. the speed of light in a vacuum (or in air) is 300
000 km/s. calculate the speed of light in diamond.

Experiment: To determine the refractive index of a piece of glass block

The refractive index of a glass block can be found by performing the following experiment.

Apparatus

- A rectangular transparent glass block

- A protractor
- Sheet of paper
- Four optics pins
- A soft board on which to stick the pins

Procedure

- Place the transparent block flat on the middle of a sheet of paper.

- Using a pencil, draw an outline of the block on the paper and remove it from the page.
- Draw a normal in the middle of the line representing a longer edge of the block.
- Use the protractor to construct an incident ray at a measured angle of incident I, i.e. 30⁰
- Record this incident angle i.

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- Place the glass block back where you had drawn its outline on the board and stick two
optical pins, P1 and P2 vertically upwards along the incident ray you had drawn.
- View these two pins on the other side of the glass block and place two other pins, P3 and P4
on this side such that all the four pins P1, P2, P3 and P4 all appear to be in a straight line.
(i.e. you should only see one pin showing that all the four pins are in one straight line)
- Remove the block and draw the emergent ray from the edge of the block. Join the point
where the incident ray enters the block to the point where the emergent ray leaves the
block. This line represents the refracted ray inside the block as shown in the diagram below.

- Measure the angle of refraction r inside the glass block and record it in a table like the one
shown below.
i r Sine i Sine r 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑖
𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑟
30⁰
40⁰
50⁰
60⁰

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- Repeat the procedure by drawing at least three incident rays at different angles i.e. 40⁰, 50⁰
and 60⁰.
- After obtaining your values, calculate sin i and sin r and record the values in the table.
𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑖
- From your value of sine i and sin r, calculate for each set of angles, i and r.
𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑟
𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑖
The average value of will give the refractive index of the glass block.
𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑟
Note: the importance of finding the average value of η is to ensure accuracy in the results.

Some effects of refraction

Illusion of bending

The apparent upward bending of a stick when placed in water is shown in the figure below.

- Rays of light from the end B of the stick pass from water to air, and are bent away from the
normal, since they are passing to a less optically dense medium. Entering the eye, the rays
appear to be coming from a point C above B. C is thus the image of B as a result of
refraction. The same reasoning applies to any point on the immersed portion of the stick AB,
so that the observer sees an image apparently in the position AC.
- The figure illustrates the appearance of print viewed through the top of a piece of thick glass
placed over it. Since the rays are refracted away from normal when they pass from glass to
air, the print and the bottom of the glass appear raised. The apparent raising of the print
thus occurs for the same reason that a stick appear to bent upwards when placed in water,
as explained above.

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 (a) Glass block placed on print

(b) Ray diagram

The principle of reversibility of light

- The principle of reversibility of light, which states that the paths of light rays are
reversible (i.e. Light can retrace its original path when its direction is reversed).
- This principle holds true for both reflection and refraction of light and, indeed, for rays
passing through any optical system.

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- Consider a ray moving from air to water.
sin 𝑖
a ηg =
sin 𝑟
- By the principle of reversibility light,
sin 𝑟
gηa =
sin 𝑖
1
hence g ηa =
aηg

Note: This equation is important in establishing the relationship between the critical angle
and refractive index.
Illusion of shallowness
- The bottom of a pond looks shallower than it really is. This is due to refraction. The figures
below shows how this illusion comes about.

Experiment: To demonstrate how light rays are bent by water.

Place a coin at the bottom of an empty cup and position your eye such that the coin is just
out of sight. While maintaining your eye in this position, slowly fill the cup with water. You will
observe that the coin comes into view as shown below.

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 The coin is hidden from view when the cup is empty because the light rays are travelling in
straight lines and they pass above the eyes. When the cup is filled is filled with water, these
rays are refracted away from their normals as they leave the water and enters the air. When
water reaches a specific depth, light rays are refracted (or bent) enough from their normals
to enter your eye. To the observer in figure (b) the coin appears to be in position ‘I’.
N.B: - The depth where the object actually is, is called the real depth and the depth where it
appears to be when observed through transparent medium is called its apparent depth.
- When rays of light from the coin beneath the beaker of water cross the water-air boundary,
they bend away from normal. The eye does not realise this. Therefore, it sees the coin at I
rather than O. this means that the coin appears to be closer than it really is, and therefore, it
looks bigger.
- The apparent depth is less than the real depth because rays of light are refracted away from
the normal as they leave the glass or the water. When they are received by your eye, they
appear to come from the point marked I (a virtual image). This phenomenon is what causes
a clear pool of water appear shallower than it really is.
- In general, water seen from above looks only three quarters (3/4) of its real depth that is,
water which appears to be 3 m deep is actually 4 m deep.
- The ratio of the real depth to the apparent depth of a transparent material is equal to its
refractive index.

𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒕𝒉
Refractive index, η =
𝑨𝒑𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒕𝒉

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Examples

1. A river whose real depth is 24 m appears to be 18 m. calculate the refractive index of the
water in the river.
Solution
Data
Real depth= 24 m
Apparent depth = 18 m

η=?
𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑡ℎ
Refractive index =
𝐴𝑝𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑡ℎ
24 𝑚
Refractive index = = 1.33
18 𝑚
2. A rectangular block 5cm thick is placed on top of a page of a page of a book. If the
refractive index of glass is 1.5, calculate the apparent depth of the print of the book.
Solution
Data
Real depth = thickness of the glass =5cm

η = 1.5
Apparent depth =?
𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑡ℎ
Refractive index =
𝐴𝑝𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑡ℎ
5cm
1.5 =
Apparent depth

5cm
Apparent depth = = 3.3 cm
1.5

Application of refractive index

1. Substances can be identified and their purity determined by measuring their

refractive index (in analytical chemistry).
2. When making microscopes, telescopes, cameras and other optical instruments the
refractive index of glass has to be used.

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Home work

1. (a) Explain the phenomenon of real and apparent depth.

(a) What do you understand by the terms real and apparent depth?
2. Water is poured into a beaker to a depth of 12 cm. To an observer looking vertically
down through the water surface, the bottom of the beaker appears to be raised to 3
cm. Calculate the refractive index of water.
3. The figure below is a diagram showing the appearance of coin immersed in water
when viewed from above.

(a) State Snell’s law

(b) What happens to the ray of light at the surface of water in the figure above?
(c) Calculate the refractive index of water.
4. Explain, with the aid of clear diagrams why
(a) a fisherman needs to aim his spear below the apparent position of a fish in order
to strike it.
(b) When a boy stands in a pond of clear water with the water reaching up his waist
he looks shorter from the waist downwards.
5. A person looking down (vertically) into a pond sees a fish that is apparently 18cm
below the surface. Calculate the actual depth of the fish in the pond.

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CRITICAL ANGLE AND TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION

 CRITICAL ANGLE

Definition Critical angle (C) refers to the angle of incidence in the optically denser medium
for which its angle of refraction in the less dense medium is 90⁰.
Or Critical angle is the angle of incidence of light, moving from a denser medium
towards a less dense medium one, at which the angle of refraction is 90⁰.

How to calculate the critical angle (C) if given the refractive index of a vacuum?

- Since critical angle occurs in situation of refraction when light is from a denser medium to a
less dense medium (which is the opposite of refraction), we need to invert the constant
sinθ1 sin 𝜃2
(η = ) to (η = ) to find the critical angle.
sin 𝜃2 sinθ1

sin 90⁰
η=
𝑆𝑖𝑛 𝐶
1
=
𝑆𝑖𝑛 𝐶
1
Equation Sin C =
η

∴ C = sin -1 1
( η)

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  TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION

When light travels from an optically denser medium to an optically less dense medium and
the angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle, there is NO refracted ray, all the
light is reflected back into the optically denser medium. This is known as total internal
Definition reflection.
Therefore, we define total internal reflection as the reflection of light travelling in a
medium when it meets a less optically dense medium at an angle of incidence
greater than the critical angle.

- Diagram (a) shows the critical angle. The strong refracted ray is at 90⁰.
- In diagram (b), the angle of incidence is smaller than the critical angle, there is strong
refracted ray as per normal.
- In diagram (c), the angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle. There is no refracted
ray but strong reflected ray. Light is totally reflected.

- In conclusion, total internal reflection only occurs when:

1. The rays are travelling in an optically denser medium towards a less dense medium.
2. The angle of incidence is greater than the critical.

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