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Understanding Light Refraction Principles

Refraction is the bending of light as it passes between different transparent materials due to changes in speed, with light bending towards the normal when entering a denser medium and away when entering a less dense medium. The laws of refraction include the first law, which states that the incident ray, refracted ray, and normal lie in the same plane, and Snell's law, which relates the angles of incidence and refraction. Total internal reflection occurs when light traveling from a denser to a rarer medium exceeds the critical angle, causing it to reflect back into the denser medium.

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9 views17 pages

Understanding Light Refraction Principles

Refraction is the bending of light as it passes between different transparent materials due to changes in speed, with light bending towards the normal when entering a denser medium and away when entering a less dense medium. The laws of refraction include the first law, which states that the incident ray, refracted ray, and normal lie in the same plane, and Snell's law, which relates the angles of incidence and refraction. Total internal reflection occurs when light traveling from a denser to a rarer medium exceeds the critical angle, causing it to reflect back into the denser medium.

Uploaded by

jhonnybinmn
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© All Rights Reserved
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Refraction

Look at the picture below-


Now Answer the following
Why does the light bends while passing
from air to glass?
What would happen if light travel from
glass to air?
Refraction
Refraction is the bending of light. Light bends whenever it travels from
one transparent material to another. One example of this is light
travelling through a glass.

The reason light bends when it passes between two materials is


because it changes speed. If the new material is denser (for example
air to glass), the light slows down and bends towards the normal.
Light speeds up as it passes through a less dense material (for example,
glass to air) and bends away from the normal.
Look at the picture below

Identify-
incident ray,
refracted ray,
Normal,
angle of incident
and
angle of refraction
Now Match your answer
Laws of refraction-
First Law of Refraction of Light
It states that the incident ray, refracted ray, and normal to the
interface at the point of incidence all lie in the same plane.
Second Law of Refraction of Light
It states that the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence (i) and the
sine of the angle of refraction (r) is constant. It is given as,
Sin(i)/Sin(r) = Constant.
2nd law also known as Snell’s law of refraction.
Snell’s law gives a relationship between the angles of incidence and
refraction.
Concept of refractive index-
Refractive Index (Index of Refraction) is a
value calculated from the ratio of the speed
of light in a vacuum to that in a second
medium of greater density. The refractive
index variable is most commonly
symbolized by the letter n
Explain real and apparent depth-
Solve the following problem-
A fish at the bottom of a pond
appears to be 1.2 m from the water
surface. What is the depth of the
pond? [Refractive index of water =
1.33]
Critical angle-
Critical angle- The angle of incidence to which the angle of
refraction is 90° is called the critical angle. It is denoted by
Ɵc or ic. Where, n = 1/ sin Ɵc .
Conditions for critical angle-
1. Light should travel from denser medium to rarer medium.
Critical Angle
Total internal reflection-
Total internal reflection- If light travels from
optically denser medium to rarer medium with
an incident angle greater than the critical angle
then the light reflects back to the denser
medium following the low of reflection. This
phenomenon is known as total internal
reflection
Conditions for Total Internal Reflection-
1. The light must be travelling from a denser medium into a less dense medium (ie
glass to air)
2. The angle of incidence must be greater than the critical angle.

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