REFRACTION
Refraction of light: The phenomenon of bending of light when it passes from one medium to another is
called Refraction of light.
The refraction of light takes place when it travels from one medium to another because the speed of light is
different in two media.
Refraction through a rectangular glass slab
To understand the refraction of light through a glass slab consider the figure given below which shows the
refraction of light through a rectangular glass slab.
• Here AO is the incident ray and BC is the emergent ray and they both are parallel to each other
and OB is the refracted ray.
• Emergent ray is parallel to incident ray
• In the figure i is the angle of incidence, r is the angle of refraction and e is the angle of emergence.
• Angle of incidence and angle of emergence are equal as emergent ray and incident ray are parallel to
each other.
• When a light ray is incident normally to the interface of two media then there is no bending of light ray
and it goes straight through the medium.
Laws of refraction of light(Snell’s law of refraction)
• The incident ray, the refracted ray and the normal to the interface of two transparent media at the
point of incidence, all lie in the same plane.
• The ratio of sine of angle of incidence to the sine of angle of refraction is a constant, for the light of a
given color and for the given pair of media. This law is also known as Snell’s law of refraction.
The Refractive Index
It is denoted as ‘n’
Refractive Index is the extent of change of direction of light in a given pair of media. The refractive index is a
relative value of speed of light in the given pair of media.
Thus, to calculate the refractive Index the speed of light in two media is taken.
Let the speed of light in medium 1 is v1 and in medium 2 is v2
Therefore,
Absolute Refractive Index
When one medium is taken as vacuum and speed of light is taken in it, then the refractive index of second
medium with respect to vacuum is called Absolute Refractive Index and it is generally denoted by n 2. The
absolute refractive index of a medium is simply called its refractive index.
Effects of refraction of light:
1.Bending of pencil when placed in a glass with water:
When a pencil or stick is kept in a beaker or a glass filled with water, the stick appears slightly bent. This
happens because the light entering from air (rarer medium) into water (denser medium); bends towards
normal to the incident which makes the appearance of pencil or stick as bent.
2.An object placed under water appears to be raised: The ray coming from the coin in the bowl bends away
from the normal to the incident. We see the emergent ray which makes the appearance of coin slightly above
its position.
c)Fishes appears to be less deep than it is actually is: The refraction of light make fishes appear shallower
than they really are.
Refraction by Spherical Lenses
A convex lens bulges outward and is thick at the center and thinner at the edges. Convex lens converges the
light rays as shown below. Hence convex lenses are called converging lenses.
A concave lens bulges inward and is thinner in the middle and thicker at the edges. Such lenses diverge light
rays as shown below. Such lenses are called diverging lenses.
Rules of convex lens
Ray diagrams of convex lens
Rule of concave lens
Ray diagrams of concave lens
Power of a Lens
The degree of convergence or divergence of light rays is expressed in terms of power. So, the
reciprocal of focal length is known as its power. It is represented by letter P. The power is given by-
P = 1/f
The SI unit of power is dioptre. It is represented by D. Power of concave lens is negative and power of
convex lens is positive.
