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A Project Report On Wavelength of Sodium Light Using Newton's Rings

1) Newton's rings are produced due to interference between light reflected from the surface of a thin air film between a plano-convex lens and a plane glass plate. The experiment was used to determine the wavelength of sodium light. 2) Key steps included using a spherometer to measure the radius of curvature of the lens, then measuring diameters of dark and light rings under a microscope to plot graphs and calculate wavelength. 3) The calculated wavelength of 575.5 nm had a 2.3% error from the actual sodium wavelength of 589.3 nm, demonstrating the experiment's ability to measure wavelengths of monochromatic light.

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Anirudh Mittal
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829 views27 pages

A Project Report On Wavelength of Sodium Light Using Newton's Rings

1) Newton's rings are produced due to interference between light reflected from the surface of a thin air film between a plano-convex lens and a plane glass plate. The experiment was used to determine the wavelength of sodium light. 2) Key steps included using a spherometer to measure the radius of curvature of the lens, then measuring diameters of dark and light rings under a microscope to plot graphs and calculate wavelength. 3) The calculated wavelength of 575.5 nm had a 2.3% error from the actual sodium wavelength of 589.3 nm, demonstrating the experiment's ability to measure wavelengths of monochromatic light.

Uploaded by

Anirudh Mittal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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A project report on

Wavelength of sodium light


using
Newton’s Rings
Presented by Group 5:-
Mohit 2019UEE5090
Abhilasha 2019UEE5091
Rishabh 2019UEE5091
Anirudh 2019UEE5093
Ritikesh 2019UEE5095
Introduction
Newton’s Ring is the demonstration of the interference of light waves
reflected from the surface of a thin air film formed between the plane glass
and the convex lens whose thickness varies while moving from the center
towards the end as shown in fig 1 .
The beams produced from the monochromatic source satisfy the condition of
coherence for interference. The dark and light fringes which are of ring
shaped are produced by the air file existing between a plano-convex lens and
a plane glass.
Brief History
Isaac Newton in 1717, observed an interference pattern formed by the
reflection of light between a spherical surface and an adjacent flat surface.
Although this phenomenon was first observed by Robert Hooke in 1664. But
this pattern is called as Newton’s Ring because he was the first scientist to
observe and explain the phenomenon.

Robert Hooke Isaac Newton


The phenomena of Interference
When two or more waves having same source and same frequency (coherent
waves) interact with each other, then the resulting phenomenon is known as
Interference .
According to the principle of superposition of waves – When two or more waves
of same type are incident at the same point then the total displacement at that point
is equal to the vector sum of the displacements of the individual waves.
yR(x,t)=y1(x,t)+y2(x,t)
The superimposing waves can have constructive or destructive interference. When
crest of the first wave falls on the crest of second wave and trough of the first wave
falls on the trough of the second wave and then the resultant wave is the vector sum
of the amplitude of the two superimposing waves which is equal to sum of the
amplitude of two waves, this is known as Constructive Interference. Constructive
interference occurs when the phase difference between the waves is a multiple of
2π.
Phase difference, Φ= 2nπ; Path difference= nλ
When crest of the first wave falls on the trough of second wave and trough of the
first wave is falls on the crest of the second wave and the resultant wave is the
vector sum of the amplitude of the two superimposing waves which is equal to the
difference in amplitude of two waves, this is known as Destructive Interference.
Destructive interference occurs when the phase difference is odd multiple of π.
Phase difference, Φ= (2n+1)π; Path difference= (2n+1)λ/2
Diagrammatic representation of Interference
Constructive Interference Destructive Interference
Newton’s Rings
Newton’s Ring is the phenomenon in which
because of the reflection of light with the two
surfaces, (i.e. first with a spherical surface and
second with an adjacent flat surface) interference
pattern is created. When we use a monochromatic
source of light, the Newton’s Ring formed appears
as a series of alternating dark and light concentric
rings cantered at the point of contact between the
lens and the glass surface. Because of the
constructive interference between the light rays
reflected from both surfaces, light rings are formed
while the dark rings are formed because of the
destructive interference.
Mathematical Derivation
Consider a ring of radius ‘r‘ due to
thickness ‘t‘ of air film as shown in the
figure:
R is the radius of the circle
O is the center of the circle
AC is the diameter
DE is the chord
r is the distance between D and E from the
center B
• t is the height between the chord of the circle and the plane glass plate.
According to geometrical theorem, the product of intercepts of
intersecting chord is equal to the product of sections of diameter. As t is
very small so t^2 will be smaller and hence can be ignored giving:

where D is the diameter of the ring. The path difference between the two
rays one reflected from E and the other from F (from figure) is
where θ is the angle of refraction in the air film. For an air film (µ = 1) between
the lens and the glass plate. The path difference is

The ray reflected from F suffers an additional phase change of π or a further


increase in the path difference by λ/2 . Hence the total path difference between
the two rays, reflected from E and F is

Since the rays are incident normally, θ is zero and hence Cos(θ) =1 . For the
points D and E to lie on a bright fringe
Using any of the two relations, we can find the wavelength of the monochromatic
light used. Thus if Dn and Dn+m denotes the diameters of n th and (n+m)th dark
fringes then we have ,
Subtracting we get:
An alternative and better method is to plot n (the no. of fringes) along xaxis and D2 n on
y-axis. Then the slope of the straight line , tan(ϕ) will give the wavelength as:-

Here R is the radius of curvature of the lens that can be found with a spherometer using
the relation

where l is the distance between the two legs of the spherometer and h is the height or the
thickness of the lens at the center . Hence we have :-
Formulae Used
Apparatus Required
1)Newton’s rings apparatus
2)Travelling microscope
3)Sodium lamp
4)Convex lens
5)Spherometer
Using Spherometer to calculate Radius
of Curvature of Convex Lens
Procedure
1. Place the spherometer on the surface .
2. Rotate the middle leg till it just touches the spherical surface and note the linear
scale and circular scale reading.
3. The initial reading is then calculated using the formula IR = main scale reading
+ (circular scale reading*least count)
4. Now place the spherometer on a flat surface. Again rotate the middle leg till it
just touches the flat surface and note the main scale and circular scale reading.
5. The final reading is then calculated using the formula
6. FR = main scale reading + (circular scale reading*least count)
7. Height or thickness of the surface is the difference of final reading and the
initial reading
8. h = FR – IR
Calculating Diameter of Rings

Newton’s rings Apparatus Newton’s Ring Fringes of Sodium light


Procedure
1. Place the lens L at a distance equal to its focal length from the sodium
lamp to get a parallel beam of light.
2. Adjust the microscope vertically above the center of the lens. Focus the
microscope so that alternate dark and light rings are clearly visible.
3. The first few rings are usually not clear so slide the microscope to the left
or right and set it tangentially at the center of the nthdark ring
4. Move the cross wire towards left and set it tangentially at the corner of
the (n+p)th dark ring where n=0,1,2,3,….. .Now move the cross wire
towards right and set it tangentially at the corner of the (n+p)th dark ring
where n=0,1,2,3,….. . Note the main scale and circular scale readings
present on the microscope in both the cases. Find the difference of the
values observed for the same left and the right ring . The result is the
diameter of ring formed .
5. Repeat the procedure no. 4 and 5 for different rings
6. Record the observed values in a table.
7. Now, take out the convex lens and the plane glass out from the case carefully
and measure the radius of curvature of the convex lens and also the height of
the convex lens with the help of the spherometer.
8. Plot the graph between the no. of rings ‘n’ along the x-axis
Observation Table
S.No. Rings LHS LHS LHS RHS RHS RHS Diameter D2 Dm+n 2- Dm2
(MSR) (CSR) (MSR) (CSR) (mm) (mm2) (n = 2)
1. 5 46 3 46.03 43 65 43.65 2.38 5.6644 9.1581

2. 6 46 18 46.18 43 46 43.46 2.72 7.3984 10.6641


3. 7 47 20 47.20 43 35 43.35 3.85 14.8225 4.8024
4. 8 47 47 47.47 43 22 43.22 4.25 18.0625 4.50
5. 9 47 61 47.61 43 18 43.18 4.43 19.6249 5.1755
6. 10 47 72 47.72 42 97 42.97 4.75 22.5625 5.4216
7. 11 47 83 47.83 42 85 42.85 4.98 24.8004 6.0021
8. 12 47 99 47.99 42 70 42.70 5.29 27.9841 3.264
9. 13 47 14 47.14 41 59 41.59 5.55 30.8025 1.8016
10. 14 47 08 47.08 41 49 41.49 5.59 31.2481 -
11. 15 47 13 47.13 41 42 41.42 5.71 32.6041 -
Calculations
Mean Value of Dm+n2 – Dm2 = 5.6432 mm
5. Least Count of Vernier Calipers = 0.1mm
Least Count of Spherometer = 0.01mm
Using given formula, R= 70 cm

Using ,

= 548.21 nm
Graph
Result
The wavelength of sodium light has been determined .
•Actual value of sodium light = 589.3 nm
•Wavelength of sodium light calculated theoretically = 585.5 nm
•Wavelength of sodium light calculated graphically = 565.5 nm
•Mean wavelength of sodium light = 575.5 nm
Percentage error = ( (589.3 −575.5)/589.3 ) x100= 2.3 %
Precautions
1) The lens used for the production of Newton’s Rings
experiment should have surfaces having a large radius of
curvature for 2 reasons:
-> The angle enclosing the air film becomes very small
-> The rings observed have a large diameter and hence the error in their measurement is reduced.
2) Clean the lens and plate with rectified spirit beforehand.
3) Set the microscope cross wires on the centre of the
central ring, else we’ll get the length of a chord and not
the diameter.
Applications of Newton’s Rings
1) Determination of wavelength of light.

2) Determination of Refractive Index of Liquid.


References
1)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interference_(wave_propagation)
2)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton’s_rings
3)http://www.physicsclassroom.com/physics-tutorial/interference-of-waves
4)http://physical-optics.blogspot.in/2011/06/newtons-rings.html

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