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Physics Notes: Calculation of Refractive Index of Prism

The document discusses the refraction of light through a prism. It defines key terms like angle of incidence, refraction, and emergence. It shows that the angle of deviation (δ) depends on the angle of incidence (i) and emergence (e) according to the equation δ = (i + e) - A. The angle of deviation reaches a minimum (δm) when the angle of incidence and emergence are equal. This allows calculating the refractive index of the prism using Snell's law.

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Ilias Achhab
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126 views1 page

Physics Notes: Calculation of Refractive Index of Prism

The document discusses the refraction of light through a prism. It defines key terms like angle of incidence, refraction, and emergence. It shows that the angle of deviation (δ) depends on the angle of incidence (i) and emergence (e) according to the equation δ = (i + e) - A. The angle of deviation reaches a minimum (δm) when the angle of incidence and emergence are equal. This allows calculating the refractive index of the prism using Snell's law.

Uploaded by

Ilias Achhab
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PHYSICS NOTES www.gneet.

com

PQ is incident ray and angle made by


PQ with normal is i. QR is refracted ray
at surface BA and angle of refraction is
r1
For surface AC ray QR is incident ray
and angle of incidence is r2 .. RS
refracted ray and angle is called angle
of emergence
The angle between the emergent ray
and RS and the direction of incident ray PQ is called the angle of deviation δ.
In quadrilateral AQNR, two angles ( at vertices Q and R ) are right angles. Therefore the
sum of other angles of quadrilateral is 180O
∠A + ∠QNR = 180O --eq(1)
From the triangle QNR
r1 + r2 + ∠QNR = 180O --eq(2)
from equation (1) and (2)
r1 + r2 = A --eq(3)
Now δ = i1 + i2 ( as δ is exterior angle) –eq(4)
Now i1 = (i – r1) and i2 = (e – r1) ( from geometry of figure)
From equation 3
δ = (i – r1) + (e – r1)
δ = (i + e ) –( r1 + r1)
δ = (i + e ) – A --eq(5)
Thus , the angle of incidence depends on the angle of incidence.
From the graph δ vs i we can find that for every angle of
deviation there are two values of angle of incidence. It
means that vale of i and e are interchangeable. Except i=e .
At i =e the angle of deviation is minimum denoted by δm or
Dm, at angle of minimum deviation ray inside the prism
becomes parallel.

Calculation of refractive index of Prism


By applying Snells law at the surface BA we get
n1sin i = n2sin r1
𝑛2 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑖
𝑛21 = =
𝑛1 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑟
At angle of minimum deviation I = e implies r1 = r2 = r From equation (3)
21

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