Sri chaitanya techno school

Physics Project

Name:- Swati K
Class:- XII A
Session:- 2019-2020
 Contents

 Abstract
 Aim
 Apparatus
 Diagram
 Theory
 Procedure
 Observation
 Calculations
 Result
 Precautions
 Source of Error
 Abstract
Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and
properties of light, including its interactions with matter and
the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics
usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultraviolet, and
infrared light. Because light is an electromagnetic wave, other
forms of electromagnetic radiation such as X-rays, microwaves,
and radio waves exhibit similar properties.

Most optical phenomena can be accounted for using the

classical electromagnetic description of light. Complete
electromagnetic descriptions of light are, however, often
difficult to apply in practice. Practical optics is usually done
using simplified models. The most common of these, geometric
optics, treats light as a collection of rays that travel in straight
lines and bend when they pass through or reflect from
surfaces. Physical optics is a more comprehensive model of
light, which includes wave effects such as diffraction and
interference that cannot be accounted for in geometric optics.
Optical science is relevant to and studied in many related
disciplines including astronomy, various engineering fields,
photography, and medicine (particularly ophthalmology and
optometry). Practical applications of optics are found in a
variety of technologies and everyday objects, including mirrors,
lenses, telescopes, microscopes, lasers, and fiber optics.
Classical optics is divided into two main branches: geometrical
(or ray) optics and physical (or wave) optics. In geometrical
optics, light is considered to travel in straight lines, while in
physical optics, light is considered as an electromagnetic wave.

In Physical optics, light is considered to propagate as a wave.

This model predicts phenomena such as interference and
diffraction, which are not explained by geometric optics. The
speed of light waves in air is approximately 3.0×108 m/s
(exactly 299,792,458 m/s in vacuum). The wavelength of visible
light waves varies between 400 and 700 nm, but the term
"light" is also often applied to infrared (0.7–300 μm) and
ultraviolet radiation (10–400 nm). Geometrical optics, or ray
optics, describes the propagation of light in terms of "rays"
which travel in straight lines, and whose paths are governed
by the laws of reflection and refraction at interfaces between
different media. These laws were discovered empirically as far
back as 984 AD and have been used in the design of optical
components and instruments from then until the present day.

In optics, a prism is a transparent optical element with flat,

polished surfaces that refract light. At least two of the flat
surfaces must have an angle between them. The exact angles
between the surfaces depend on the application. The
traditional geometrical shape is that of a triangular prism with
a triangular base and rectangular sides, and in colloquial use
"prism" usually refers to this type. Some types of optical prism
are not in fact in the shape of geometric prisms. Prisms can be
made from any material that is transparent to the
wavelengths for which they are designed. Typical materials
include glass, plastic, and fluorite. A dispersive prism can be
used to break light up into its constituent spectral colors (the
colors of the rainbow). Furthermore, prisms can be used to
reflect light, or to split light into components with different
polarizations.
 Aim

I. To investigate the dependence of the angle of deviation on

the angle of incidence using a hollow prism filled one by
one with different transparent liquids.

II. And find the speed of light in given transparent liquids.

 Apparatus

 Hollow glass prism

 Various liquids like water, carbon disulphide,

benzaldehyde etc.

 Bell pins

 Drawing board
 Diagram

Fig 1.Refraction through a prism.

Fig 2. Hollow Prism.

Fig 3. Refraction through prism at different
angles.

Fig 4. Graph between angle of incidence and

angle of deviation.
 Theory
Refraction:-
In physics, refraction is the change in direction of a wave
passing from one medium to another or from a gradual change
in the medium. Refraction of light is the most commonly
observed phenomenon, but other waves such as sound waves
and water waves also experience refraction. How much a wave
is refracted is determined by the change in wave speed and the
initial direction of wave propagation relative to the direction of
change in speed.

For light, refraction follows Snell's law, which states that, for a
given pair of media, the ratio of the sines of the angle of
incidence θ1 and angle of refraction θ2 is equal to the ratio of
phase velocities (v1 / v2) in the two media, or equivalently, to
the indices of refraction (n2 / n1) of the two media.[2]

Refraction of light at the interface between two media of

different refractive indices, with n2 > n1. Since the phase
velocity is lower in the second medium (v2 < v1), the angle of
refraction θ2 is less than the angle of incidence θ1; that is, the
ray in the higher-index medium is closer to the normal.
Optical prisms and lenses use refraction to redirect light, as
does the human eye. The refractive index of materials varies
with the wavelength of light, and thus the angle of the
refraction also varies correspondingly. This is called dispersion
and causes prisms and rainbows to divide white light into its
constituent spectral colors.

Refraction of light through a prism:-

Refraction is the bending of light when it goes from one
medium to another so, when a ray of light passes through a
glass prism, refraction of light occurs both, when it enters the
prism as well as when it leaves the prism. Since the refracting
surfaces are not parallel, therefore, the emergent ray and
incident ray are not parallel to one another. In this case the
ray of light is deviated on passing through the prism.

As it can be seen from the diagram given below a glass prism

AOB is made to stand on its base AB. Here the line JJ’ and
KK’ are normal to the surfaces AO and BO respectively. LM is
the incident light that is made to fall on the surface of prism
that is, AO. As the light ray is travelling from rarer medium to
the denser medium the light ray bends towards the normal QJ’
and follows the path QR inside the prism. QR is the refracted
ray of light which bends towards the base of prism AB. Now
the refracted ray QR after travelling through the prism, exits
the prism at point R. At this point the ray is again refracted.
Now since the refracted ray QR is travelling from denser to
rarer medium (glass to air) it bends away from the normal KR
and traverses the path RN. This ray is known as Emergent
Ray. In this case also we can see that the emergent ray bends
towards the base of the prism.
Thus we can conclude that when a ray of light travels through
a prism, it always tends to bend towards the thicker part of the
prism.

As we already know that both the surfaces of the prism are not
parallel to each other, therefore the emergent ray RN and
incident ray QL are also not parallel to each other. Now let us
extend the incident ray QL to a point M. This extended line is
the original direction of the incident ray. Thus we can define
angle of deviation as the angle between the original path of
the incident ray and the emergent ray.
Now let us consider the prism given above. In the
quadrilateral PBDC, at the vertices B and C, two of the angles
are right angles.

Therefore,

∠P + ∠BDC = 180° ………… (1)

In ∆ BDC,

r1 + r2 + ∠BDC = 180°……….. (2)

r1 + r2 = P …….. (3)

Now, we can define the total deviation ∅ as the sum of

deviation at the two surfaces.

∅ = (i - r1) + ( e - r2)

∅ = i + e – A ………….. (4)

Thus we can conclude that angle of deviation depends on the

angle of incidence.When the deviation is minimum, the
refracted ray becomes parallel to the base of the prism.
Angle of minimum deviation:-
The minimum value of the angle of deviation when a ray of
light passes through a prism is called the angle of minimum
deviation.

Let Dmin denote minimum deviation which is equal to angle of

deviation ∅. In the case of minimum deviation, angle of
incidence (i) is equal to the angle of refraction that is, i = e and
r1 = r2.

From equation (3),

2r = P

r = P/2

Similarly, From equation (4),

From Snell’s law,

The refractive index(µ) of the prism is given by,

Equation (5) helps us to determine the refractive index of the
prism. For a prism, whose angle is negligible, Dmin is also very
small.

Refraction through prism at different

angles:-
 Procedure
 Fix a white sheet of paper on the drawing board with help
of drawing pins.

 Keep the prism and mark the outline of it as ABC.

 Drop a normal PQ on the side AB.

 Draw the angle of incidence in accordance with the

normal PQ and place 2 pins so that they appear to be in
the straight line.

 Place the prism filled with given sample of liquid ,on the
marked outline ABC.

 Now take the pins and place them on the side AC so that
all the 4 pins appear to be in same line.

 Remove the prism and draw the line joining the points so
obtained.

 Mark the diagram as shown in the figure.

 Repeat this with different liquids and different angle of

incidence.
 Observations

 Benzaldehyde
S.no a º(angle of i º (angle of d º (angle of
prism) incidence) deviation)
1 60 30 45
2 60 35 42
3 60 37.5 40
4 60 39 42
5 60 40 45

n=sin((60+40)/2)/sin(30)
= 1.504

 Water
S.no a º(angle of i º (angle of d º (angle of
prism) incidence) deviation)
1 60 30 25
2 60 35 22
3 60 40 20
4 60 45 22
5 60 50 25
6 60 55 28
 n=sin((60+22)/2)/sin(30)
= 1.306

 Dil. Sulphuric Acid

S.no a º(angle of i º (angle of d º (angle of
prism) incidence) deviation)
1 60 20 33
2 60 30 30
3 60 35 25
4 60 40 29
5 60 45 30

n=sin((60+25)/2)/sin(30)
= 1.351
 Calculations

Plot the graphs between angle of incidence (i) and angle of

deviation (D) by taking i along X-axis and D along Y-axis
for each transparent liquid.The graphs will be similar to
the graph given below. From the graph we can calculate
the angle of minimum deviation corresponding to the
lowest point of the graphs.

Speed of light in a transparent medium is v=C/n

Where,
n= refractive index of the transparent liquid
speed of light in air C= 3 × 108 m/s
 Results
 The i-D graph indicates that as the angle of incidence(i)
increases, the angle of deviation (D) first decreases, attains
a minimum value(Dm) and then again start increasing for
futher increases in angle of incidence.
 The refractive indices of,

Water= 1.306

Benzaldehyde=1.504

Dil.suphuric Acid=1.351

 Speed of light in,

Water =2.25 × 108m/s

Benzaldehyde=4.51×108m/s

Dil.suphuric Acid=4.053×108m/s
 Precautions

i. The angle of incidence should lie between 350 -600.

ii. Pins should be vertically fixed and should lie in same

line.

iii. Distance b/w two points should not be less than 10mm.

iv. Same angle of prism should be used for all observation.

v. Arrow head should be marked to represent emergent

and incident ray.
 Sources of error

i. Pin pricks maybe thick.

ii. Measurement of angles may be wrong.