Physics Refraction Focal Length
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pratik.pandya130290Physics Refraction Focal Length
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pratik.pandya130290The reason for a glass lens to be able to focus light is that light travels more slowly within the
glass than in the medium surrounding it. The result is that the light rays are bent. This is
described by the refraction index of the glass lens, which is equivalent to the ratio of the speed of
light in air and glass.
Refraction is the redirection of a light wave as it passes from one medium to another.The
redirection can be caused due to the change in speed or change in medium of the wave.It is the
bending of the light wave as it passes from one transparent substance to another.This
phenomenon of bending by refraction lead to the existence of lenses , magnifying glass , prisms
and rainbows. Even the human eye depends upon the bending of light.
Laws of Refraction
Refraction is governed by the two laws as follows,
1. The incident ray, refracted ray and the normal to the refracting surface at the point of
incidence, belong to the same plane.
2. Snell’s Law: The ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence (angle between the incident ray and
the normal) to the sine of the angle of refraction (angle between the refracted ray and the normal)
is constant. The constant depends on the two media and the wavelength of the incident light.
The amount of bending depends on the indices of refraction of the two media and is described
quantitatively by Snell's Law.
Snell’s law gives the relation between the angle of incidence (θ1), the angle of refraction (θ2), the
refraction index of the glass slab (n2) and the surrounding medium (n1): n1 sin θ1 = n2 sin θ2 .
The bending of refraction can be visualized in terms of Huygens' principle. As the speed of light
is reduced in the slower medium , the wavelength is shortened proportionately. The frequency
remains unchanged ; it is a characteristic of the source of light and is unaffected by medium
changes.
The index of refraction defines the level of bending which is defined as the speed of light in
vacuum divided by the speed of light in the medium. The amount of bending depends on the
change in index of refraction.
Types of Refraction
Refraction from rarer to denser medium: In such cases, the relative refractive index is greater
than 1. The angle of incidence is greater than the angle of refraction i.e. the refracted ray shifts
towards the normal. Refraction of light in water from air is an example of this category.
Refraction from denser to rarer medium: The relative refractive index is less than 1. The angle of
refraction is less than the angle of refraction i.e. the refracted ray shifts away from the normal.
Refraction from glass to air falls in this category.
Effects of Refraction in NatureRainbow is formed after a shower due to the refraction of sunlight
by surfaces of water droplets.When the sun rises, the light coming from the sun refracts through
the Earth’s atmosphere and reaches our eye before the sun actually crosses the horizon.
Similarly, after the sunset, light rays from the sun get refracted and reach us. Due to this, the
sunrise is a bit advanced and the sunset is delayed. Because of the heterogeneous atmosphere
of the Earth, the apparent position of distant stars varies slightly, causing twinkling of stars.
Application of Refraction of Light
Lenses are transparent objects which can focus light using refraction. Lenses are widely used in
cameras and binoculars.
In cosmology, different telescopes are used to study the faraway objects of the universe.
Microscopes are widely used in science to study very small objects, which are otherwise invisible
to the naked eye. These optical instruments use refraction to form magnified images of distant or
small objects.
Prisms are wedge-shaped transparent objects, often used as optical filters to extract out a
particular wavelength. Light rays of different wavelengths propagate with different speeds in a
medium such that they refract at different angles. This phenomenon is called dispersion
(observed in prisms).An important application of refraction is optical fibers which are used for
communication with minimum energy dissipation.
The refraction of light obeys the following two laws :
· The incident ray, the refracted ray and the normal at the point of incidence all lie in the same
plane.
· The ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is a constant.
This constant is called the index of refraction or refractive index.
