PHYSICS

INVESTEGATORY
PROJECT
SUBMITTED BY: Jagpreet Singh

12th ‘B’

ROLL No, 4627182

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It should be my utmost pleasure to express sincere thanks to my

PHYSICS teacher Mrs. V BALASARASWATHY for providing
a helpful hand in this project. Her valuable information and
advice helped me a lot for the successful completion of my
project work. Her guidance and encouragement has been an
inspiration for me. I would like to express my sincere gratitude
to our laboratory attendant without whose utmost care and help
this project would have been impossible.
Rigorous hard work has been put in this project to ensure that it
proves to be best. I hope that this project would help the next
generation of students and would guide them in every possible
way.
 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that
JAGPREET SINGH,
Student of class 12 B has successfully completed the
Research project on the topic
“Speed of light through prism”
Under the guidance of
Mrs. V.BALASARASWATHY.
This project is absolutely genuine and does not indulge in
plagiarism of any kind. The references taken in making this
project have been declared at the end of this project.

Subject teacher External Examiner

Date:
 OBJECTIVE
To investigate the dependence of the
angle of incidence, using a hollow prism
filled, one by one, with difference
transparent fluids.
APPARATUS REQUIRED
Drawing board, white sheet of papers,
hollow prism,
Different liquids (water, kerosene), drawing
pins, pencil,
Half meter scale, thump pins, graph paper
and a protractor.
THEORY
Refraction of light through a prism
Diagram shows section ABC of a prism taken by a vertical
plane, perpendicular to the edge, BC is the base of the prism and
AB and AC are its two refracting surfaces.
RQ is the incident ray.
QS is the refracted ray.
ST is the emergent ray.
<RQN1=i =angle of incidence

<SN3=r1=angle of refraction inside prism

<QSN3=r2=angle of incidence inside prism
<TSN2= e=angle of emergence
<BAC=A=angle of deviation
<SFK=D=angle of deviation
In QFS, <KFS=<FQS+<FSQ
D= (i-r1) + (e-r2)
D=i +e-(r1+r2)
In QS1N3, r1+r2 QN3S=180
The quadrilateral AQN3S is cyclic quadrilateral, then
A+<QN3S=180
From above eq,
A=r1+r2
Eq, above become
D=i=e-A
D+A=i+e

Angle of Minimum Deviation

(a) Definition: The minimum value of angle of deviation is
called angle of minimum deviation it is represented by
the symbol Dm.
(b) Explanation: for same angle of deviation (D) there are
two values for angle of incidence. One value equals and
other values for angle of incidence. One value equals and
other values equal “e”.
As angle increased from a small value, e decreases from
large value and angle of deviation decreases. When angle
of deviation is minimum (Dm), then, I and e becomes
equal.
The refracted ray QS goes parallel to base BC.since i=e,
We have
sini sin 𝑒
r1=r2 [n=sin 𝑟2 = sin 𝑟2]
Hence at minimum deviation, when r1=r2=r (say) we
have
A=r1+r2=r+r=2r or r=A/2
Also, at the minimum deviation, D=Dm and i=e from
relation,
A+D=i+e
A+Dm
We have, A + Dm=i+i = 2i or i= 2
We have,
sin 𝐴+𝐷𝑚/2
𝑛= sin 𝐴/2
The relation is useful for determination of n for prism
material
 PROCEDURE
 Fix a white sheet of paper on the drawing board with
the help of drawing pins.
 Draw a straight line XX’ parallel to the length of the
paper nearly in the middle of the paper.
 Mark points Q1, Q2, Q3,….on the straight line XX’ fat
suitable distance of about 5cm .
 Draw normal N1Q1, N2Q2, N3Q3… as shown
 Draw straight line R1Q1, R2Q2, R3Q3… making angle of
35,45,…60(write value of the angles on the paper)
respectively with the normal .
 Make one corner of the prism as A and take it as the
edge of the prism for all the observations.
 Put it prism with its refracting face AB in the line XX’
and point Q, in the middle of AB.
 Mark the boundary of the prism.
 Fix two or more office pin P1 and P2 vertically on the line
R1Q1 the distance between the pins should be 10mm or
more
 Look the image of point P1 and P2 through face AC.
 Close your left eye and bring open right eye in line with
the two images.
 Fix two office pin P3 and P4 and P4 vertically and 10 cm
apart such that the open right eye sees pin P4 and P3
and image of P2 and p1 in one straight line.
 Remove pin P3 and P4 and encircle their pricks on the
paper
 Repeat step 7 to 13 with pointsQ2, Q3.. for i=40,..60
 Draw straight line through points P4 and P3 (pin pricks)
to obtain emergent rays S1T1, S2T2, S3T3….
 Produce T1S1, T2S2, T3S3... at points F1,F2,F3….
 Measure angle K1F1S1, K2F2S2, K3F3S3,… these give ange
of deviation D1,D2,D3,D4…
 Write values of these angles on the paper.
 Measure angle BAC in the boundary of the prism. This
gives angle A.
 Record your observations as given below.
OBSERVATIONS

Sl.No Angle of Angle of Angle of

Incidence deviation deviation for
Li LD for kerosene oil
water
1. 35
2. 40
3. 45
4. 50
5. 55
6. 60
7. 65

Angle of hollow prism A = ………degree

CALCULATIONS
Plot the graphs between angle of incidence Li and angle of
deviation LD by taking Li along X-axis and LD along Y-axis for
each transparent liquid.fr5om the graph find the value of angle
of minimum deviation Dm corresponding to the lowest point of
the graphs. Let the values of angle of minimum deviation.
Dm=…………………..
Then refraction index of the transparent medium
sin 𝐴 + 𝐷𝑚/2
𝑛=
sin 𝐴/2
The speed of light in transparent medium is
c
𝑣=
n
Where speed light in air c =
RESULT

1. The i-D graph indicates that as the angle of incidence (i)

increases, the angle of deviation (D) first decreases, attains
a minimum value (Dm) and again start increasing for
further increases in angle of incidence.
2. The angle of minimum deviation for
(a) Water Dm=…………..C
(b) Kerosene oil Dm=………….C
3. The refractive indices of the
(a) Water n=…………
(b) Kerosene oil n=………..
PRECAUTIONS
1. The angle of incidence should lie between 35-60
2. The pins should be fixed vertical.
3. The distance between the two pins should not be less than
10 mm
4. Arrow heads should be marked to represent the incident
and emergent ray.
5. The same angle of prism should be used for all the
observations.

SOURCE OF ERRORS
1. Pin prick may be thick.
2. Measurement of angle may be wrong.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

 NCERT lab Manual physics

 Laxmi publications lab manual
 NCERT textbook
 Google.com
 Pradeep’s physics 12th