Chapter 4: Refraction

Please remember to photocopy 4 pages onto one sheet by going A3→A4 and using back to back on the photocopier

Something to think about

“Twinkle twinkle little star . . .”
Why do stars twinkle but not planets?

Refraction is the bending of a wave as it passes from a medium of one refractive index to another medium of
different refractive index.

When light travels from a medium of lower refractive index to a medium of higher refractive index it is refracted
towards the normal and vice versa*.

The two laws of refraction of light

1. The incident ray, the normal and the refracted ray all lie on the same plane.
(not to be confused with the reflected ray, from the laws of reflection of light).
2. The ratio of the sin of the angle of incidence to the sin of the angle of refraction is a constant called the
refractive index.

sin i
R . I .=
sin r

The refractive index between any two media is a constant and is given the symbol ŋ.
The second law of refraction is also known as Snell’s law*.

This leads to the following definition:

The refractive index of a medium is the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of
refraction when light travels from a vacuum into that medium.
(In practice we consider air and a vacuum to be equivalent).

Note that if you see the phrase “the refractive index of glass is 1.5”, it means that “when light travels from air into
glass the refractive Index is 1.5”.
This is written as aŊg = 1.5

If light is going in the other direction (i.e. from glass to air), the refractive index will be the inverse of 1.5.
1
i.e. if aηg = 1.5, then gηa =
1.5 1
If aηg = 1.5, then gηa = 1.5

See 2012 Question 12 (b) {I think this was the only time it arose, which was very nasty because most people wouldn’t
be expecting it}

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2
 Refractive index in terms of the speed of light in different media

Light travels at different speeds in different media. The relationship between these speeds leads to another formula for
the refractive index of a medium:

speed of light ∈air C air

R . I . of medium= R . I .=
speed of light ∈medium Or C medium

Note that the speed of light is 3×108 m s-1 (that’s 300 million metres per second, or 300 000 km per second!)

Of all the formulae to do with refractive index, this is the most fundamental in that the reason light refracts in the first
place is because it travels at different speeds in the different media.

************* neither of the formulae above are in the log tables ***************

Refractive Index in terms of Real Depth and Apparent Depth

Refraction explains why a swimming pool is deeper than it

actually appears to be.

Real Depth
R . I . of a medium=
Apparent Depth

3
 The critical angle and total internal reflection

The critical angle

Look at the glass block in the diagram.

When the angle of incidence (in the glass block) reaches a certain
(critical) angle, the light no longer refracts outward, but instead
travels along the surface.

The angle of refraction is now 900, and this leads to a definition of

the critical angle.
The critical angle corresponds to the angle of incidence which
causes the angle of refraction to be 900.

Relationship between Critical Angle and Refractive Index

1
R . I . of a medium=
sin C

Where C represents the critical angle

(If you’re clever you can even show where this formula comes from; the trick is to remember that in general the term
refractive index refers to light travelling from air to the medium, whereas for the critical angle light is travelling from
the medium into air).

Total internal reflection

Now if we increase the angle of incidence beyond the critical angle,
the light ray won’t actually leave the block at all, but will ‘reflect’
back as if it was striking the surface of a mirror.
We say that the light is now ‘totally internally reflected’.

Total internal reflection occurs when the angle of incidence is

greater than the critical angle and light is reflected back into the denser
medium.

You should be able to demonstrate this in the classroom

Using a prism to turn a ray of light through (i) 900 (ii) 1800

You should be able to demonstrate this in the classroom

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 Applications of Total Internal Reflection
1. Optical Fibres
2. Endoscopes
3. Reflective road signs
4. Periscopes
Optical Fibres*

How light is transmitted in an optical fibre

1. An optical fibre consists of a glass pipe coated with a second material of lower refractive index.
2. Light enters one end of the fibre and strikes the boundary between the two materials at an angle greater than the
critical angle, resulting in total internal reflection at the interface.
3. This reflected light now strikes the interface on the opposite wall and gets totally reflected again.
4. This process continues all along the glass pipe until the light emerges at the far end.

Note:
 If the second cladding material wasn’t there or had a refractive index greater than that of the central core total
internal reflection would not occur and the light would simply escape out.
 The outer cladding also acts as a protective layer against scratches etc.
 The word "fiber" comes from the fact that these cables are incredibly thin, about the size of a hair.

Applications
 Telecommunications
 Medicine (endoscopes)

Advantages of optical fibres over copper conductors

Less interference / cheaper raw material / occupy less space / more information (carried) in the same space / flexible
for inaccessible places/ do not corrode

Summary of Formula

sin i Speed of light ∈air 1

R . I .= R . I .= R . I .=
sin r S peed of light ∈medium sin C

Real Depth
R . I .=
Apparent Depth

1
If aηg = 1.5, then gηa = 1.5

Mandatory Experiment:
To verify Snell’s Law and use it to measure the refractive index of a solid.

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 Leaving Cert Physics Syllabus: Refraction

Content Depth of Treatment Activities STS

1. Laws of Refractive index Demonstration using ray box Practical examples, e.g. real and
refraction or laser or other suitable apparent depth of fish in water.
method.
Refractive index in terms of Appropriate calculations.
relative speeds. Appropriate calculations.

2. Total internal Critical angle Demonstration. Reflective road signs.

reflection Relationship between critical Appropriate calculations Mirages.
angle and refractive index. Prism reflectors.
Transmission of light Uses of optical fibres:
through optical fibres.  telecommunications
 medicine (endoscopes)
Experiments:
1. Verification of Snell’s law of refraction.
2. Measurement of the refractive index of a liquid or a solid.

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 VERIFICATION OF SNELL’S LAW OF REFRACTION
Or
TO MEASURE THE REFRACTIVE INDEX OF A GLASS BLOCK

APPARATUS: Glass block, ray-box, protractor, page

DIAGRAM (I couldn’t find one which included the ray-box)

PROCEDURE
1. Place a glass block on the page and mark its outline.

2. Shine a ray of light from the ray-box into the glass block.

3. Mark two dots on the incident ray and exit ray and draw the outline
of the block.

4. Remove the block and complete all lines including the normal, as indicated on the diagram.

5. Measure the angle of incidence i and angle of refraction r using the protractor.

6. Repeat for different values of i.

7. Draw up a table as shown.

8. Plot a graph of sin i against sin r. A straight line through the origin verifies Snell’s law of refraction
i.e. sin i ∝ sin r.

9. The slope of the line gives a value for the refractive index of glass.

sin i
10. The refractive index of glass is also equal to the average value of
sin r
RESULTS

i (degrees)
r (degrees
sin i
sin r
sin i
n=
sinr
Average value for refractive index =

SOURCES OF ERROR / PRECAUTIONS

1. Using small angles of incidence will result in large percentage errors.
2. Place two dots far apart on the incident and refracted light beams to accurately locate the beams

Tip when carrying out the experiment

Start with a small angle of incidence and measure the corresponding angle of refraction.
Now increase this angle at roughly regular intervals each time to ensure a wide range of values (rather than simply
taking angles at random each time).

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 Common student-errors on tests on this topic

Keep your test paper and your answer page. Your focus when you go to revise should be on what you got wrong on
the test.

Almost all questions are from the test questions which would already have been covered either in class or for
homework. That is/should be your essential starting point in identifying what you do or do not know or understand.

Not learning definitions off by heart – putting them in your own words is asking for trouble. See the next point.

Quite often the sentence doesn’t even read as a proper sentence.

The marking scheme clearly states that all terms must be in the correct context. So if the definition isn’t coherent as a
standalone sentence then you can’t get full marks.
So read over it before you move on.

Your calculator must be in ‘Degrees mode’. If you don’t know what that means then find out.

How does an optical fibre work?

You need (at least) three separate points of information (and a diagram is also a good idea).

Graph/Experiment section
 It’s sin i and sin r, not i and r.

 Always label your axes.

 Use a pencil, not a biro.

 Remember the concept of ‘best-fit line’.

 Newsflash: it must be one continuous line.

 Always extend the line back to (or very near to) the origin.

 When finding the slope of the graph, your two points must be on the line. Can you say why?

 Indicate clearly which two points you are using.

 When asked ‘how does your graph verify Snell’s Law’? the answer is:
“Because a graph of sin i against sin r resulted in a straight line trough the origin (which in turn proves that sin i
and sin r are proportional to each other, which ultimately is what Snell’s Law is all about).”
Note that a straight line through the origin is always how we verify that two variables are proportional to each
other.

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 Extra Credit
*When light travels from a medium of lower refractive index to a medium of higher refractive index it is
refracted towards the normal and vice versa.
Density and refractive index are not the same thing.
Many oils for example have a greater refractive index than water but are less dense than water.
There is then the issue of what type of density the definition is referring to; is it mass/volume, is it optical density or is
it density of electrons (given that the movement of light is affected by electric fields associated with electrons).

*Snell’s Law
Utterly useless trivia #1: The law of refraction was first accurately described by Ibn Sahl, of Baghdad, in 984.
Utterly useless trivia #2: In French, Snell's Law is called "la loi de Descartes" or "loi de Snell-Descartes" because the
French philosopher/mathematician/scientist came up with the law independently in 1637 (Snell devised his version in
1621).

We now come to a non useless trivia bit: how does the light know how much to bend when it hits the water/air
interface (let’s assume it’s going from air to water)? This is a very disconcerting issue – it seems that light follows the
path of least time – i.e. it takes the quickest route from A to B, which is obviously a straight line in a given medium,
but when it’s passing from one medium to another it bends in such a way that its overall journey-time is a minimum.
The physicist Richard Feynman gave the following scenario to explain the concept: a lifeguard on a beach spots a
swimmer in trouble some distance away, in a diagonal direction. He can run three times faster than he can swim. What
is the quickest path to the swimmer?

But I ask again – how does light know how much to bend by?
See the related link in the refraction page of thephysicsteacher.ie

*In other words if you see the phrase “the Refractive Index of glass is 1.5”, it means that when light travels from
air into glass the refractive Index is 1.5
This is important to remember because if light is going in the other direction (i.e. from glass to air, the refractive index
will not be 1.5 – it will in fact be 1/15).
This often causes confusion; especially when we go on to define the critical angle.

Ŋ = c1/c2
Why is "c" used for the speed of light?
From the Latin 'celeritas', meaning speed, as an alternative to v (for particles).

*Optical Fibres
Irishman John Tyndall - from County Carlow of all places (who would have guessed Carlow would be capable of
producing anything useful?) was one of first to investigate fibre optics, and demonstrated it using a water fountain.
Tyndall was one of the foremost scientists in Britain in the mid to late 1800’s and did a lot of pioneering work on
optics. He was the first to explain properly why the sky is blue and why it gets red as the sun goes down. He was also
a noted mountaineer.
Never again ask why God invented Carlow.

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Experiments
There are three mandatory experiments on the syllabus to do with refraction
To verify Snell’s Law
To measure the refractive index of a liquid or a solid.
The or in italics implies that you must be given the option, and therefore the exam question cannot specify measuring
the refractive index of a liquid.
But in verifying Snell’s Law, we plot a graph of Sin i against Sin r, and show that because the graph is a straight line
going through the origin, the two variables are directly proportional.
To calculate the refractive index we then simply calculate the slope of the graph, and if Sin i is on the y-axis, the slope
corresponds to the refractive index.
No need to worry about measuring the refractive index of any messy liquids!

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 Exam questions: Refraction
1. [2010 OL]
Which of these scientists is associated with the law of refraction of light?
Rutherford Snell Joule Einstein

2. [2008][2006][2002 OL][2004 OL][2005 OL][2009 OL]

What is meant by refraction of light?

3. [2008]State Snell’s law of refraction.

4. [2002][2002 OL]State the laws of refraction of light.

5. [2004 OL]What is meant by the refractive index of a material?

6. [2008]
(i) Light is refracted as it travels from air into the cornea as shown in the diagram.
Calculate the refractive index of the cornea.
(ii) Draw a diagram to show the path of a ray of light if it travelled from water of refractive index 1.33 into the cornea.

7. [2005 OL]
(i) What special name is given to the angle of incidence i, when the effect shown in the
diagram occurs?
(ii) In the diagram the value of the angle i is 41.80. Calculate a value for the refractive
index of the glass.
(iii) Draw a diagram to show what happens to the ray of light when the angle of
incidence i is increased to 450.

8. [2003 OL] Explain total internal reflection with the aid of a labelled diagram

9. [2004 OL] When will total internal reflection occur?

10. [2004 OL] Define the critical angle.

11. [2003 OL] The critical angle for the glass is 42o. Calculate the refractive index of the glass.

12. [2007] The refractive index of a liquid is 1.35, what is the critical angle of the liquid?

13. [2003] Calculate the critical angle for diamond. The refractive index of diamond is 2.4.

14. [2010] What is the critical angle of a sample of glass whose refractive index is 1.46?

15. [2003 OL]

(i) The diagram shows a 45o prism made of glass and a ray of light entering the prism
from air. Copy the diagram and show the path of the ray through the prism and back
into the air.
(ii) Explain why the ray follows the path that you have shown.

16. [2003 OL][2005 OL]Give two uses of total internal reflection.

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 Optical fibres
17. [2009 OL]
Draw a diagram to show the path of a ray of light travelling through an optical fibre.

18. [2009][2004][2004 OL]

Explain how a signal is transmitted along an optical fibre.

19. [2004 OL]

How is the escape of light from the sides of an optical fibre prevented?

20. [2004][2009]
An optical fibre has an outer less dense layer of glass. What is the role of this layer of glass?

21. [2004 OL]

Give one use for optical fibres.

22. [2004]
Give two reasons why the telecommunications industry uses optical fibres instead of copper conductors to
transmit signals.

23. [2009]
Impurities in glass reduce the power transmitted in an optic fibre by half every 2 km.
The initial power being transmitted by the light is 10 W.
What is the power being transmitted by the light after it has travelled 8 km through the fibre?

24. [2009]
Information is transmitted over long distances using optical fibres with a refractive index of 1.55.
What is the speed of the light as it passes through the fibre?

25. [2004]
An optical fibre is manufactured using glass of refractive index of 1.5.
Calculate the speed of light travelling through the optical fibre.

26. [2004 OL]

Name a material that is used in the manufacture of optical fibres.

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 Mandatory Experiments
27. [2008 OL][2013 OL]
An experiment was carried out to measure the refractive index of a substance.
The experiment was repeated a number of times.
(i) Draw a labelled diagram of the apparatus that could be used in this experiment.
(ii) What measurements were taken during the experiment?
(iii) How was the refractive index of the substance calculated?
(iv)Why was the experiment repeated?

28. [2006 OL]

A student carried out an experiment to verify Snell’s law of refraction by measuring the angle of incidence i and
the angle of refraction r for a ray of light entering a glass block. The student repeated this procedure two more
times. The data recorded by the student is shown in the table.
(i) Draw a labelled diagram of the apparatus used in the experiment.
(ii) Describe how the student found the position of the angle of angle of sin i sin r sin i/sin r
refracted ray. incidence i refraction r
(iii) How did the student measure the angle of refraction? 30o 19o
(iv) Copy this table and complete it in your answer-book. 45 o
28o
(v) Use the data to verify Snell’s law of refraction. 65o 37o

29. [2010]
In an experiment to verify Snell’s law, a student recorded the
following data. i/° 30 40 50 55 60 65 70
(i) Draw a labelled diagram of the apparatus used. r/° 19 26 30 33 36 38 40
On your diagram, indicate an angle i and its corresponding angle r.
(ii) Using the recorded data, draw a suitable graph
(iii) Explain how your graph verifies Snell’s law.
(iv) Using your graph, find the refractive index
(v) The student did not record any values of i below 30°, give two reasons why?

30. [2005]
In an experiment to verify Snell’s law, a student measured the angle of incidence i and the angle of refraction r for a
ray of light entering a substance. This was repeated for different values of the angle of incidence. The following data
was recorded.
i/degrees 2 30 40 50 60 70
0
(i) Describe, with the aid r/degree 1 19 26 30 36 40 of a diagram, how the student obtained the
angle of refraction. s 4
(ii) Draw a suitable graph on graph paper and explain how your graph verifies Snell’s law.
(iii) From your graph, calculate the refractive index of the substance.
(iv) The smallest angle of incidence chosen was 200.
Why would smaller values lead to a less accurate result?

13
 Exam solutions: Refraction
1. Snell
2. Refraction of light is the bending of light as it passes from one medium to another (of different refractive index).
3. The ratio of the sin of the angle of incidence to the sin of the angle of refraction is a constant.
4. The incident ray, the normal and the refracted ray all lie on the same plane.
The ratio of t the sin of the angle of incidence to the sin of the angle of refraction is a constant.
5. n = sin i/ sin r, where i is the angle of incidence and r is the angle of refraction and light is travelling from a
vacuum into that medium
sin i
6. =ŋ
sin r
(i)
 n = sin 37/sin 27  n = 1.33

(ii) Both media have the same refractive index so there is no bending of light so draw a straight line passing from one
medium to the other without bending.
7.
(i) It is called the critical angle.
(ii) n= 1/ sin C  n = 1/sin 41.80  n = 1/0.67  n = 1.5.
(iii) See diagram.
8.
(i) Total internal reflection occurs when the angle of incidence is greater than the critical
angle and light is reflected back into the first medium.
9. When the angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle.
10. The critical angle corresponds to the angle of incidence in the denser of two media
which causes the angle of refraction to be 900.
1 1 1
11. n g= n g= n g=  n = 1.49
sin C sin 420 0.669
1 1 1
12. n g= sin C= sin C= sin C=0.7407 C=sin−1 0.7407 C = 47.80
sin C ng 1.35
1 1 1
13. n g= sin C= sin C= sin C=¿ 0.417 C=sin−1 0.417 C = 24.60
sin C ng 2.4
1 1 1
14. n g= sin C= sin C= sin C=¿0.685 C=sin−1 0.685 C = 43.20
sin C ng 1.46

15.
(i) See diagram
(ii) Because total internal reflection occurs twice while inside the prism.
16. Fibre optics, endoscopes, reflective road signs, telecommunications, binoculars, periscope.

31. 1.35, what is the critical angle of the liquid?

32. [2003]Calculate the critical angle for diamond. The refractive index of diamond is 2.4.

33. [2010] What is the critical angle of a sample of glass whose refractive index is 1.46?

Optical fibres

17. Answer:

18. An optical fibre consists of a glass pipe coated with a second material of lower
refractive index.
(i) Light enters one end of the fibre and strikes the boundary between the two
materials at an angle greater than the critical angle, resulting in total internal
reflection at the interface.
(ii) This reflected light now strikes the interface on the opposite wall and gets totally reflected again.
(iii) This process continues all along the glass pipe until the light emerges at the far end.

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19. Total internal reflection occurs due to an outer cladding of lower refractive index.

20. Total internal reflection will only occur if the outer medium is of lesser density (strictly speaking it should read
‘lower refractive index’ rather than ‘less dense’, but there you go.)
It also prevents damage to the surface of the core.
21. Endoscope, telecommunications, binoculars.
22. Less interference, boosted less often, cheaper raw material, occupy less space, more information carried in the
same space, flexible for inaccessible places, do not corrode, etc.
23. After 2 km power has dropped to 5 W; after 4 km power has dropped to 2.5 W; after 6 km power has dropped to
1.25 W; after 8 km power has dropped to 0.625 W.
24. n = cair/cglass  cglass = cair/n cglass = 3.0 × 108/1.55  cglass = 1.94 × 108 m s-1
25. ng = ca /cg  1.5 = 3 × 10 / vg 
8 8
vg = 2.0 × 10 m s -1

26. Glass / plastic / sand / silicon

Mandatory Experiments
27.
(i) As in diagram, plus a ray box and protractor.
(ii) The angle of incidence and the angle of refraction.
(iii) By using the formula n = sin i ÷ sin r.
(iv)To increase the accuracy of the results.

28.
(i) See diagram. Also include a protractor and raybox.
(ii) Draw the incident ray going in, the emergent ray coming out, then remove the block and join
the two lines. This represents the refracted ray.
(iii) By measuring the angle between the normal and the refracted ray using a protractor.
(iv)
angle of incidence i angle of refraction r sin i sin r sin i/sin r
30o 19o 0.500 0.326 1.53
o o
45 28 0.707 0.469 1.51
65o 37o 0.906 0.602 1.50

(v) In each case sin i/sin r is (approximately) constant; therefore this verifies Snell’s Law.

29.
(i) Diagram to show:
A target medium e.g. glass block
Incident ray (from ray box)
Perpendicular / normal and refracted ray
Label angles i and r
(ii) Correct sin i and sin r values for six points
Label axes correctly on graph paper sin i 0.500 0.64 0.766 0.81 0.866 0.90 0.939
Plot six points correctly 3 9 6
Straight line showing good distribution sin r 0.325 0.43 0.500 0.54 0.588 0.61 0.643
(iii) A straight line through the origin shows that 8 4 5
sin i is proportional to sin r
(iv) Correct slope method
(n = ) 1.41 [range: 1.38 – 1.52]
(v) To reduce the (percentage) error
Elaboration e.g. difficult to measure /read angles, r < i , etc.
30.
(i) See diagram, plus ray-box.
Mark the position of the incident and exit rays and also the outline of the block.
Remove the block then measure the angle between the refracted ray and the normal using a protractor.

(ii)
sin i 0.34 0.50 0.64 0.77 0.8 0.94
7
sin r 0.24 0.33 0.44 0.50 0.5 0.64
9
15
(iii) Refractive index = slope = y2 – y1 / x2 – x1  n = 1.49
(iv) There would be a greater percentage error associated with measuring smaller angles.

Common Test errors

State the laws of refraction of light
Don’t use the word “reflection” in your answer

What is meant by the refractive index of a material?

Include the phrase “as light travels from a vacuum into that medium”

Explain how a signal is transmitted along an optical fibre.

Give three separate points

Experiment to verify Snell’s law

Using the recorded data, draw a suitable graph
It must be a graph of sin i against sin r {not i and r}

Using your graph, find the refractive index

You must calculate the slope of the graph by using two points which are clearly marked on the graph {so you can’t
take points from the table unless they also happen to be on the line of best fit which you have drawn}

 In your IGCSE examination you might be asked to describe an experiment to investigate Snell’s law or
determine the refractive index of a material using some listed apparatus.

Top Tips for describing experiments:

 If you need to use an equation to calculate something, start off by giving it.
(The equation we need here is n = sin i / sin r ).
 State what your independent variable is (the thing that you are going to change) and how you will
measure it. If appropriate, you should also suggest some values for your independent variable.
(We’re going to be changing the angle of incidence, using a range of values from 10 up to 70 degrees in
10 degree intervals).
 State what your dependent variable is (the thing you are going to measure), and describe how you
will measure it.
(We’ll be measuring the angle of refraction, using a protractor)
 List any variables that you need to control and explain briefly how you will do so.
(We’ll need to be careful to keep the glass block in the same position each time.)
 Finally, state that you will repeat the experiment several times and take an average.

There are two main methods of carrying out this experiment, depending on what equipment you are given:

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