Scribd
Upload
6 views

Refraction of Light

The document explains the phenomenon of light refraction, which occurs when light travels from one transparent medium to another, causing it to bend due to changes in velocity. It details the relationship between the angles of incidence and refraction, governed by Snell's Law, and discusses the concept of the index of refraction and its dependence on wavelength. Additionally, it covers total internal reflection and its applications in devices like periscopes and optic fibers.

Uploaded by

manuelterciario789
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
6 views

Refraction of Light

The document explains the phenomenon of light refraction, which occurs when light travels from one transparent medium to another, causing it to bend due to changes in velocity. It details the relationship between the angles of incidence and refraction, governed by Snell's Law, and discusses the concept of the index of refraction and its dependence on wavelength. Additionally, it covers total internal reflection and its applications in devices like periscopes and optic fibers.

Uploaded by

manuelterciario789
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 22

REFRACTION OF LIGHT

When a ray of light traveling through a transparent medium encounters a boundary


leading into another transparent medium, part of the ray is reflected, and part enters
the second medium. The ray that enters the second medium is bent at the boundary
and is said to be refracted.
REFRACTION OCCURS WHEN LIGHT’S VELOCITY CHANGES
As in the case of reflection, the angles of the incoming and refracted rays are measured
with respect to the normal. For studying refraction, the normal line is extended into the
refracting medium, as shown in the figure.
Glass, water, ice, diamonds, and quartz are all examples of transparent media through
which light can pass. The speed of light in each of these materials is different. The speed
of light in water, for instance, is less than the speed of light in air. And the speed of light in
glass is less than the speed of light in water.
The angle of refraction depends on the properties of the two
media and on the angle of incidence, through the
relationship:

Where v1 is the speed of light in medium 1 and v2 is the


speed of light in medium 2. Note that when:
 Light moves from a material (medium 1) in which its speed
is high to a material in which its speed is lower(medium 2),
then v1 > v2 and the angle of refraction is less than the
angle of incidence. The refracted ray therefore bends
toward the normal.
 Light moves from a material (medium 1) in which it travels
slowly to a material in which it travels more rapidly
(medium 2), then v2 > v1 and the angle of refraction is
greater than the angle of incidence. The refracted ray
bends away from the normal.
LAW OF REFRACTION
An important property of transparent substances is the index of refraction (n). The index
of refraction for a substance is the ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum to the speed
of light in that substance.
AS LIGHT TRAVELS FROM ONE MEDIUM TO
ANOTHER, ITS FREQUENCY DOESN’T CHANGE.
If this wasn’t true, the incidence light would either “pile up” at the boundary or be
destroyed or created at the boundary. Because neither of these events occurs, the
frequency must remain the same as a light ray passes from one medium into another.
However, its wavelength does change.
SNELL’S LAW
By combining the definition of the index of refraction and the expression of the
relationship of the incidence angle and refracted angle we obtain what is called Snell’s
Law of Refraction:
THE ANGLE OF REFRACTION MADE WHEN LIGHT
ENTERS A MATERIAL DEPENDS ON THE
WAVELENGTH OF THE LIGHT.
The dependence of the index of refraction on wavelength is called
dispersion. This happens because of Snell’s Law of Refraction and the
definition of the index of refraction.

From this equation you can see that the angle of refraction depends on the
wavelength of the entering light.
This means that light with a bigger wavelength, like the color red (),
will refract less than light of shorter wavelength , like color violet ().
THE RED LIGHT REFRACTS LESS THAN THE VIOLET LIGHT
RAINBOWS ARE FORMED BECAUSE OF THE REFRACTION OF WHITE LIGHT IN WATER DROPLETS.
THE LIGHT GETS DISPERSED BECAUSE OF THE DIFFERENT WAVELENGTH OF EACH COLOR.
TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION
It occurs when light encounters the boundary between a medium with a higher index of
refraction and one with a lower index of refraction. When the angle of incidence increases
the refracted angle increases until the refracted light moves parallel to the boundary of
both mediums, meaning . This happens for a called critical angle of incidence. For
angles of incidence greater than this critical angle, the light will be totally
reflected in the medium.
We can obtain the value of the critical angle from Snell’s Law:

This phenomenon is only true when n1> n2, since the sine of any angle can’t
be bigger than 1. Also, depending on how close are the indices of refraction, the
critical angle could increase. For example, when light goes from diamond (n=
2.419) to air, its critical angle is . When light goes from crown glass (n=1.52) to air,
its critical angle is
PERISCOPES AND OPTIC FIBERS FUNCTION
THANKS TO THE TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION
Next Topic:
Mirrors

You might also like