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Refraction

Refraction occurs when light travels from one medium to another with different optical densities. It causes a change in the direction of the light ray due to the change in speed. An optically rarer medium allows light to travel faster, while an optically denser medium slows it down. Refraction follows Snell's law relating the sines of the angles of incidence and refraction to the refractive indices of the media. The refractive index is the ratio of light speeds in a vacuum to in the medium.

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Radhika Garg
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2K views14 pages

Refraction

Refraction occurs when light travels from one medium to another with different optical densities. It causes a change in the direction of the light ray due to the change in speed. An optically rarer medium allows light to travel faster, while an optically denser medium slows it down. Refraction follows Snell's law relating the sines of the angles of incidence and refraction to the refractive indices of the media. The refractive index is the ratio of light speeds in a vacuum to in the medium.

Uploaded by

Radhika Garg
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Refraction of Light

SUBTOPICS:
1. Definition 5. Refractive Index
2. Optically Rarer medium
3. Optically Denser medium
4. Laws of Refraction of light
Refraction of Light
Refraction of light refers to the change in direction
of a ray of light when it travels from one medium to
another. 
Refraction is caused due to the change in speed
of light when it enters from one medium to another.
Optically rarer medium- in which lights speed is
faster. 
Optically denser-speed of light is slower.

 Medium 'A' is said to be optically


denser than Medium 'B', if the speed of light in 'A' is
lesser than the speed of light in 'B‘.
If we compare water and Glass then Water is optically
rarer medium and Glass is optically denser medium.
Bending of light when it travel from
Rarer to denser medium and denser
to rarer medium.
When light travel from rarer
to denser medium, it bends
towards the normal and
angle I >angle r.
When light travel from denser to
rarer medium, it bends away from
the normal and angle i < angle r.
Laws of Refraction of Light
1. The incident ray, the refracted ray and the normal to
the interface of two media at the point of incidence
all lie in the same plane. 
2. Snell’’s Law: For the light of a given color and for
given pair of media, the ratio of the sine of the angle
of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is
constant.
Laws of Refraction of Light
Sample Problem 1:
 Refractive index of glass is 1.5. If the speed of light in
vacuum is 3 X 108  m/s, find velocity of light in medium.

Solution: Refractive index,   µ = C / v
    = Velocity of light in vacuum / Velocity of light in
medium
                                              v = C / µ
                                                 = 3 X 108 / 1.5
                                                 = 2 X 10  m/s. (Ans.)
Sample Problem 2
 If refractive index of water is 4/3 and that of glass is
3/2. Find the refractive index of glass w.r.t. water.

Solution:             µw =  4/3,       µg = 3/2


Refractive index of glass w.r.t. water ( wµg  ) = aµg   /  aµw
                                                               = 3/2 / 4/3
                                                               = 3/2 X 3/4
                                                               = 9/8     
Multiple Choice Questions
The refractive index of transparent medium is greater
than one because
(a) Speed of light in vacuum < speed of light in
tansparent medium
(b) Speed of light in vacuum > speed of light in
tansparent medium
(c) Speed flight in vacuum = speed of light in
tansparent medium
(d) Frequency of light wave changes when it moves
from rarer to denser medium (Ans b)
The refractive index of water is 1.33. The speed of light
in water will be
(a) 1.33 × 108 m/s
(b) 3 × 108 m/s
(c) 2.26 × 108 m/s
(d) 2.66 × 108 m/s (Ans c)
You are given three media A, B and C of refractive
index 1.33, 1.65 and 1.46. The medium in which the
light will travel fastest is
(a) A
(b) B
(c) C
(d) equal in all three media (Ans a)
 Light ray enters from medium A to medium B
and bends away from the normal. The refractive
index of medium B relative to A will be

(a) greater than unity


(b) less than unity
(c) equal to unity
(d) zero
Answer: b
Explanation:
(b) In medium B, light ray bends away from the
normal. It indicates that medium B is optically rarer
than medium A. Hence speed of light in medium B is
more than that in medium A. Hence, if in a fraction
denominator is more than fraction becomes less than
1.

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