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1
Learning Goals 2

• By the end of this lesson, I will be able to:

1. Describe refraction
Refraction 2. Predict the direction a ray of light would refract
towards
3. Calculate the index of refraction of a medium
using a ray box and polar graph paper
4. Describe phenomena related to refraction, such
as critical angle and total internal reflection

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3
Refraction 4

• Imagine that you are driving a car on a paved The bending or change in direction of light when it
road. travels from one medium to another
• You are texting, and your car goes out of its lane,
and your right tires hit the gravel shoulder. How fast is light traveling?
• What happens to your car? • Speed of Light (in a vacuum) = 3.00x108m/s
• Speed of Light (in water) = 2.26x108m/s
• Speed of Light (in acrylic)=1.76x108m/s

3 4

The Rules for Refraction 5 6

The incident ray, refracted ray, and normal all lie in the same
plane. The and are on of
the line that separates the two media.

Index of Refraction

Light bends the normal when the speed of light in the

second medium is than the speed of light in the first
medium.
Light bends from the normal when the speed of light in the
second medium is .

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Refraction Normal
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Observations Table 8

Lab
Angle of Incidence
Angle in
Incident Ray incidence in
air
Angle of
Refraction in
water

Refracted Ray

Angle of Refraction

7 8

Refraction 9 Refraction 10

Lab Lab

9 10

Refraction 11 Refraction 12

Lab Lab

11 12

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Summary 13
Index of Refraction (n) 14

Angle in
incidence in
10o 20o 30o 40o 50o 60o
• Light changes speed as it travels in different
air media
Angle of
Refraction in
7.5o 14.9o 22.1o 28.9o 35.2o 40.6o
• The speed of light in a vacuum is 3.00 x 108 m/s
water
• Index of refraction is the ratio of the speed of
light in a vacuum to the speed of light in the new
Index of
medium
n= = Sin ∠ i
Refraction Sin ∠R
c = speed of light in a vacuum
n = Sinc∠ I
Sinv∠R v = speed of light in medium

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Sample Problem 1 15
Sample Problem 2 16

Calculate the index of refraction in salt. The speed The index of refraction of olive oil is 1.48. What is
of light in salt is 1.98 x 108 m/s. the speed of light in olive oil?

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Sample problem 3 17
Critical Angle 18

What if… one material WASN’T a vacuum??

•When light travels from one medium to another, some
A more light is reflected, while other light is refracted.
generic •If light slows down, it bends toward the normal
formula for •If light speeds up, it bends away from the normal
Snell’s law:
Special Case – When light travels from a slow medium to a fast one
• The angle of refraction continues to increase as the angle of
A beam of light travels from water (n=1.33) to glass incidence increases
(n=1.52). If the angle of incidence is 37.8, calculate the • Eventually the angle of refraction becomes 90o
angle of refraction. • The critical angle is the angle of incidence that produces a
refracted angle of 90o

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Critical angle 19
Critical angle 20

I’m the
critical angle

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Critical angle 21
Total Internal Reflection 22

• Total internal reflection occurs when two

conditions are met:
1) Light is travelling slower in the first medium
than in the second.
2) The ∠ incidence is large enough that no
refraction occurs in the second medium. Instead,
Total it is reflected back into the first medium.
Internal
Reflection

21 22

23 Applications of Total Internal Reflection 24

Fibre Optic Cables

Used to transmit
TV signals

To see inside
parts of the body
(endoscopes)

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Diamonds Are a Scientist’s Best Friend 25

Diamonds

What makes a
diamond
sparkle?

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