Reflection and Refraction

Goal: To study the reflection of light by a flat surface and to study the refraction
of light through straight and curved surfaces.

Lab Preparation
When light travelling through air encounters a different material, part of the light
energy is reflected back into the air and part of it is transmitted into the glass,
experiencing an abrupt change in direction at the glass surface (Figure 1). This
change in direction of the transmitted light is refraction. Directions of the light
rays are specified with respect to a line drawn normal to the glass surface (called
the normal line). Figure 1 shows an incident light ray, and the resulting reflected
and refracted rays.
Incident
Air Glass

t
Refracted
r

Reflected

Figure 1
Here, θi is the angle of incidence, θr is the angle of reflection, and θt is the angle of
refraction. Note that all angles are measured from the normal line.

Law of reflection. The law of reflection states the angle of incidence is equal to
the angle of reflection. Thus
θi = θr.

Law of refraction. Snell's law relates the angle of incidence to the angle of
refraction. Snell's law is stated as

n1sinθ1 = n2sinθ2
or
n1sinθi = n2sinθt

Here, n1 and n2 refer to the indices of refraction of the two materials or in other
words their optical densities. The index of refraction in air is nair = 1.00. In this
lab your light will start in air so you will know n1. During the lab you will
attempt to measure the angles (θi and θt) and use these to determine the index of
refraction of the given material (n2).

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Equipment

Lasers. A laser will be used in this lab to trace light rays. Lasers provide high
intensity light so they must be handled very carefully in lab. Never look directly
into the laser light and be very careful that it is not pointing at other people in the
lab.

Procedure

I. The law of reflection

Consider light rays coming from an object, O (see Figure 2). Each ray that falls
on a mirror produces a reflected ray. These reflected rays, when extended back
into the region behind the mirror, intersect at point I called the image. We wish
to locate experimentally the position of the image.

your  eye  
Mirror  
a  
N  
b  

O   I  

d  

c  

Figure 2

A. Using a sharp pencil, draw a line down the center of a sheet of plain paper
parallel to its long edge. Set the front edge of the mirror on the pencil line
(the front side is the reflecting side of these mirrors). Insert a pin (make
sure it is vertical) at O, about 2 or 3 cm from the edge of the page. This
will be your object.

B. You want to locate the image of O in the mirror. With one eye closed look
with the other at the image I in the mirror (Figure 2). Keep your eye at
least 1/2 meter away from the mirror. Place two pins at points a (near the
edge of the paper) and b (near the mirror) so these points, your eye, and
the image of object O are all in the same line (see Figure 2). When the
alignment is perfect, the two pins a and b will exactly cover up the image

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 of object O since all are in the same line. Remove the pins and label each
of these pin holes with the number 1.

C. Repeat the process in part B two more times with your eye at different
locations. Do this one more time on the same side of the object, as done in
part B, and repeat the process on the other side of the object (such as
points c and d in Figure 2). Remove the pins each time and label the
associated pinholes in the paper with 2's, 3's, and 4's. Make sure at least
two of your cases will have angles of incidence of 30o or more.

D. Remove the mirror from your paper and draw the following lines for ray
set 1 (the pin holes for a and b labeled 1).
1. Draw a solid line through the pin holes a and b to the line that
represents the mirror (shown in Figure 2 at point N).
2. Draw a solid line from the object O (you can remove the object and use
its pinhole) to point N (shown in Figure 2).
3. You now have a pair of incident and reflected rays like those shown in
Figure 1. Using a protractor, construct a normal line to the mirror at
point N. Measure the angle of incidence and the angle of reflection.
Record these values in a table similar to the one below. Repeat this
process for the remaining three ray sets. Do your measurements
support the law of reflection?

Ray Set θi θr
1
2
3

4. Extend the four reflected rays back into the region behind the mirror
with a dashed line (see Figure 2 again). Ideally, these lines will all
intersect at a single point indicating the location of the image I.
Because of error in precisely aligning pins and images, all four lines
may not intersect at the same place. Draw the smallest circle that
includes all points of intersection between the lines. Take the center of
this circle as the best average location of the image. Measure and
record the distance from mirror to image and from mirror to object.
Are these distances the same? Comment on any error.

5. For an alternative method of locating a mirror image carry out the

following steps. Place the mirror back on the line and place a pin back
in the object location at O. Remove all other pins. Look into the mirror
at the image of O. Now, look over the top of the mirror at a second pin
held in your hand behind the mirror. You should be able to see this
second pin and the image of O in the mirror at the same time. We
want to place this second pin at the location of the image I. To do this,
move your head from side to side; adjust the second pin so there is no
relative motion between this second pin and the image of the pin at O.
In other words, when you move your head side to side the second pin

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 and the image of the pin at O should move together back and forth
together as you move your head. If one moves more than the other
you need to adjust the second pin.

When adjustment is perfect, insert the second pin in the board. Check
again by moving your head a lot from side to side. If there is no
relative motion between the second pin the image of the pin at O, we
say there is no “parallax” and the second pin and the image of the pin
at O are at the same place. Mark this location on your page and label it
“Image – parallax method.”

II. The law of refraction - Snell's law

*Never look directly into the laser beam or aim it at another person. Please
handle carefully.

A laser can be used to observe the path taken by light-rays passing through
different media. A block of Plexiglas will play the role of the refraction block
shown in Figure 3. A small portion of the laser light is scattered as it passes
through the block, making the path evident. Outside the Plexiglas the laser beam
can be traced using pins.

Laser
Refraction block
n1 n2 n1
1

t
r θt'  

θi'  
1
1

Figure 3

A. Center the Plexiglas block on a sheet of paper as in Figure 3 and draw a

careful outline of the block on the paper.

B. Set the laser up so it enters the glass at an angle of incidence of about 50o (θi
in the Figure 4).

C. Follow the refracted ray as it exits the block into the air on the other side of
the block. Use a pin to follow the beam in air and punch small holes in the
paper at two widely separated points along the ray exiting the block. Take

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 care to keep the pin vertical. Put one hole near the block and one further
away (dots are shown in Figure 3).

D. Repeat this process for the reflected ray (the incident light ray hits the
block and some of the light reflects off). Once again put two small holes in
the paper, one close to the block and one further away.

E. Repeat this process one more time for the incident ray (from the laser to the
block).

F. Remove the block and use the holes to draw the incident ray, reflected ray,
the ray through the block, and the refracted ray.

G. Where the incident ray enters the block, construct a normal to the block
surface. Measure the angle of incidence, θi, and the angle of the refracted
transmitted ray in the block, θt. Repeat this process where the ray exits the
block (construct a normal and measure θt ‘and θi ‘). Record these values as
trial 1 in tables similar to the ones below.

H. For each case (light entering and light leaving) use the angles and Snell's
law to find the index of refraction of the Plexiglas block. Assume that
nair = 1.00.

Light Entering Light Leaving

Trial θi θt n Trial θi ‘ θt ‘ n
1 1
2 2

I. Carefully put the block back in the outline and repeat steps B through H
with an angle of about 70o. Make sure that each incident ray enters the
block at a different spot along the edge of the block (so don't have it
enter where the 50o incident ray entered). Also, make sure each trials 1
and 2 are labled on your sheet.

III. Focal length of a convex lens

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Use the laser and a Plexiglas convex lens segment to
measure the paths taken by a series of parallel rays
1
incident from one side of the lens.
2

3
A. Place the lens on a sheet of paper with a Optic Axis

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template for the lens (provided in lab and
similar to Figure 4). Be sure that the lens is 5

carefully aligned with the template. Fix the

paper to the optics pin board with two pins at 7

diagonal corners. Do not move or bump the Plexiglas

lens once it is properly positioned. Block
Figure 4

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 B. Position the laser so the beam precisely follows dashed line 1 of the
template. To better align the incoming laser beam with! the lines on the
template place a rectangular Plexiglas block on the template between !the
laser and convex lens. Make sure the face of the block that the laser beam
enters is perpendicular to the template lines. Then, sighting directly down,
you can make fine adjustments to the laser’s position to get the laser beam
correctly aligned with each line in the template. Poor results will be
obtained if the alignment is not done very carefully.

C. For the incident ray 1 use a pin to follow and mark the path of the beam
after it passes through the lens. Make two pin holes in the paper. Put one
pin hole very near the lens and the second near the distant edge of the
paper to create as long a line as possible. Label each pin hole with a 1.

D. Repeat this process for rays 2 through 7.

E. After all rays have been traced and marked, remove the lens and the paper
from the board. Draw line segments using the pin holes from the lens edge
to the paper's edge showing each outbound ray.

F. The focal length of the lens is the distance from the center of the lens to the
point along the optical axis where the rays converge, the focal point. The
five inner rays should all converge at nearly the same location. Measure
and record the focal length of the lens based on the convergence point of
these five rays.

G. The two outermost rays (6 and 7) may cross the optical axis at a
substantially different location due to spherical aberration of the lens.
How far from the focal point, determined from the five inner rays, do the
outer rays cross the optical axis?

*When finished with your lab clean up your lab station.

Homework
1. Determine your average value for the index of refraction of your Plexiglas
block from part II.

2. Use the average value found in Homework #1 to determine the speed of light
through the Plexiglas block.

3. In part II, would the values of θt increase, decrease, or remain the same if the
index of refraction of the block was higher? Explain.

4. Suppose you did part II with the whole set up in water rather than in air.
Would the values of θt increase, decrease, or remain the same? Explain.

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