MUTHAMIL PUBLIC SCHOOL

Ambai Road,Muneerpallam, Tirunelveli-627356

AN INVESTIGATORY PROJECT REPORT ON

“REFRACTIVE INDICES OF WATER AND OIL USING A
PLANE MIRROR, A EQUICONVEX LENS AND AN
ADJUSTABLE OBJECT NEEDLE”
Submitted In Partial Fulfillment of The Requirement for Higher
Secondary Projects (CBSE)
2024-2025

SUBMITTED BY
M.KATHEEJA BEEVI
ROLL NO:
CLASS- XII
UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF
Mr. BALASUBRAMANIAN

Department of Physics
Muthamil Public School
Ambai Road, Muneerpallam, Tirunelveli-627356
 MUTHAMIL PUBLIC SCHOOL

Ambai Road, Muneerpallam, Tirunelveli-627356

BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Miss M. KATHEEJA BEEVI of Class XII

(Roll No: ) prepared an investigatory project report entitled
“ REFRACTIVE INDICES OF WATER AND OIL USING A PLANE
MIRROR, AN EQUICONVEX LENS AND A ADJUSTABLE NEEDLE ”.
Further this is a bonafide project work, done under the guidance of the subject
teacher.This bonafide project work is the result of the student’s individual efforts
and endeavours. The report is worthy of acceptance as final project report for the
subject Physics of class XII. And it has been prepared as per the guidelines issued
by CBSE.

SIGNATURE OF THE PRINCIPAl SIGNATURE OF THE TEACHER

Mrs.P.MARY RANI M.A., B.Ed Mr. BALASUBRAMANIAN
 MUTHAMIL PUBLIC SCHOOL

Ambai Road, Muneerpallam, Tirunelveli-627356

CERTIFICATE

This project entitled “ REFRACTIVE INDICES OF WATER AND OIL

USING A PLANE MIRROR, AN EQUICONVEX LENS AND AN
ADJUSTABLE NEEDLE ”, prepared by Ms. M. KATHEEJA BEEVI
of Class XII with the Roll No: ( ) has been submitted for the CBSE
Senior Secondary practical Examination for the subject Physics at Muthamil
Public School, Ambai Road, Muneerpallam Tirunelveli - 627356. And the
same has been examined on:

SIGNATURE OF EXTERNAL EXAMINER

 MUTHAMIL PUBLIC SCHOOL

Ambai Road, Muneerpallam, Tirunelveli-627356

DECLARATION BY THE STUDENT

I hereby declare that the project work entitled “REFRACTIVE

INDICES OF WATER AND OIL USING A PLANE MIRROR,
EQUICONVEX LENS AND A ADJUSTABLE NEEDLE”,
submitted to Department of Physics , Muthamil Public School is prepared by
me.All the information, analysis and observations are the result of my
personal efforts and my indebtedness to the related publications, project
works and references, if any, have been duly acknowledged.

M. KATHEEJA BEEVI
Roll No :
CLASS XII
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Firstly, I would like to thank God for being able to complete this Physics
project with success and I am very grateful to everyone who supported me to
complete my project effectively and moreover on time. My deep
acknowledgment and gratitude go to all those who helped me present these
ideas well.
I would like to express my whole hearted thanks to our Chairman Mr.T.
Amaravel Babu for providing best facilities and technical environment
which helped me to complete this project work.
I would like to express my special thanks to our Correspondent Mrs.
Jayanthi Babu for her time and effort she provided throughout the year.
Your useful advice and suggestions were really helpful to me during the
project’s completion and in this aspect,I am eternally grateful to you.

I express my sincere thanks to my principal Mrs.P.Mary Rani for her

support and for all the facilities provided for the preparation of this
project work

I extend my sincere thanks to my teacher Mr.Balasubramanian who guided

me to the successful completion of this project. I take this opportunity to
express my deep sense of gratitude for their individual guidance, constant
encouragement and immense motivation which have sustained my efforts at all
stages of this project work.

Secondly, I would also like to thank my parents and friends who helped me a
lot in finalizing this project within the limited time frame.

M. KATHEEJA BEEVI
Roll No :
CLASS XII
 INDEX
S.NO TOPIC PG.NO

1 INTRODUCTION 1

EXPERIMENT 1
 Aim 2
 Apparatus
2  Theory
 Procedure
 Observations
 Calculation
 Result

3 PRECAUTION AND SOURCES OF ERROR 7

4 BIBLIOGRAPHY 8
 INTRODUCTION

Refractive index is also referred to as refraction index or index of

refraction. The speed of light in a medium depends on the properties of the
medium. In electromagnetic waves, the speed is dependent on the optical
density of the medium. Optical density is the tendency of the atoms in a
material to restore the absorbed electromagnetic energy. The more optically
dense material is, the slower the speed of light. One such indicator of the
optical density of a medium is the refractive index.

In optics, the refractive index or index of refraction n of a material is

a dimensionless number that describes how light propagates through that
medium. It is defined as, n=C/V
Where, n is the refractive index
c is the velocity of light in a vacuum ( 3 × 10^8 m/s)
v is the velocity of light in a substance

The vacuum has a refractive index of 1. The refractive index of other

materials can be calculated from the above equation. Higher the refractive
index, the higher the optical density and slower is the speed of light. The
table below lists the refractive index of different media.

1
 EXPERIMENT NO:1
 Aim:

- To find refractive indices of water and turpentine oil using a
plane mirror, a equiconvex lens (made from a glass of
known refractive index) and an adjustable object needle.

 Apparatus:

- A convex lens
- an optical needle
- a plane mirror
- a clamp stand
- a spherometer
- a plumb line
- metre scale
- water
- turpentine oil.

 Theory:

 Let’s add small amount of water on a flat, plane surface and
place a convex lens over it. This forms a plano-concave
lens of water between the lower surface of convex lens and
plane mirror.
 Let f1 and f2 are the focal lengths of water lens and convex
lens respectively, then focal length of the combination is:

The focal length of the plano-concave lens is,

1
 From Lens Maker’s formula,

Therefore, R1 = R and R2 = infinity, for water lens.

The refractive index of water is ,

(where ‘R’ is the radius of curvature of the concave surfaces

of the plano-concave lens).
The Radius of curvature of the lens, is

 Procedure:

I. For finding the focal length of convex lens:

(i) Measure the rough focal length of the convex lens.

(ii) Place the plane mirror with the convex lens placed on it
above the horizontal base of a clamp stand horizontally as
its tip lies vertically above the optical centre of the lens.
Adjust the needle at a height a little more than the rough
focal length of the convex lens.
(iii) Try to remove the parallax between the tip of the object
needle and its image tip.
(iv) Note the distance of the tip of the needle from the centre of
1
 the upper surface of the lens. Let it be x1. (Use plumb
line).
(v) Remove the convex lens and measure the distance of the tip
of the needle from the plane mirror. Let it be x2 (Use
plumb line).
(vi) Repeat and record all the observations.

II. For finding the focal length of the plano-concave lens:

 Pour few drops of water over the plane mirror and place the
convex lens over it.
 Repeat steps (ii) to (iv) as done above.
 Repeat the procedure with turpentine oil also.

III. For finding ‘l’:

 Determine the pitch and least count of scale of the

spherometer.
 Place the spherometer on the dried surface of the convex lens.
 Turn the screw downwards very gently till the tip of the screw
just touches the lens.
 Read and record the reading.
 Keep the spherometer’s legs on the base of a paper and
adjusting the central screw, find the pricks A, B and C of the
three legs of the spherometer. Join the centres of the three
pricks and measure the lengths with the half-metre scale.
 Note the values of AB, BC and AC. 


1
 Observations:

Pitch of the spherometer = 1 cm

Least count of the spherometer = 0.01 cm
Distance between the legs :
(1) AB = 3 cm
(2) BC = 3 cm
(3) CA = 3 cm

Table for calculation of ‘h’

1
 To measure focal length ‘ f ’ of convex lens

 Calculations:

 Mean difference between the two legs :

Mean h = 0.7557 cm

 To find the radius of the curvature of the concave lens :

= 2.27366 cm
 Measurement of refractive indices of water and turpentine oil

1. With water between the convex lens and the plane mirror:

1
 2. With turpentine oil between the convex lens and the plane mirror :

 RESULTS :

- The refractive index of water is μ1 = 1.06552

- The refractive index of turpentine oil is μ2 = 1.22736
 PRECAUTIONS :

 The screw of the spherometer should be moved in one direction

only to avoid backlash error.
 The screw should be moved just to touch the surface of the
convex lens or the glass slab.
 The parallax should be removed properly.
 The lens and the plane mirror should be properly cleaned.
 The convex lens of large focal length should be used.
 The spherometer reading should be taken first on the surface.

 SOURCES OF ERROR :

(i) The distances x1 and x2 may not be measured correctly.

(ii) The value of h and l may not be correct.
(iii) Parallax may not be removed properly.
(iv) Backlash error may be acting on the spherometer.

1
BIBLIOGRAPHY:

- https://byjus.com/physics/refractive-index/#:~:text=Q1-
,What%20is%20refractive%20index%3F,%2C%20n%20%3D%20
c%2Fv 
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refractive_index 
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK592413/ 
- Comprehensive practical Physics class-XII
- Book by Dr. N. K. Verma, Avinash Ojha.
- Lakshmi publications pvt. limited, 2008.
- Sources: documents.in, icbse.com,etc