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Experiment 4

This experiment aims to trace the path of a light ray passing through a rectangular glass slab at different angles of incidence and measure the associated angles of incidence, refraction, and emergence. A ray of light is passed through the glass slab at angles of 30°, 45°, and 60° and the angles on both sides are measured. The results show the angle of incidence is nearly equal to the angle of emergence, the angle of refraction is always less than the angle of incidence, and the lateral displacement remains the same for different angles. This supports the laws of refraction.

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Mrinal Raj
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112 views3 pages

Experiment 4

This experiment aims to trace the path of a light ray passing through a rectangular glass slab at different angles of incidence and measure the associated angles of incidence, refraction, and emergence. A ray of light is passed through the glass slab at angles of 30°, 45°, and 60° and the angles on both sides are measured. The results show the angle of incidence is nearly equal to the angle of emergence, the angle of refraction is always less than the angle of incidence, and the lateral displacement remains the same for different angles. This supports the laws of refraction.

Uploaded by

Mrinal Raj
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Experiment --4

Objective:

To trace the path of a ray of light passing through a rectangular glass slab for different angles of incidence and to measure the angle
of incidence, angle of refraction and angle of emergence and interpret the result.

Theory:

 Refraction of Light: When light passes from one medium to other it deviates/changes its path, this property of
light is called refraction of light.
 Normal Ray: A ray of light which forms an angle of 90° with the refracting surface is said to be normal. When a
ray of light travels along the normal, it does not suffer any refraction.
 Incident Ray: A ray of light that travels towards the refracting surface is called incident ray.
 Refracted Ray: A ray of light that changes its path when passes through a refracting surface is said to be
refracted ray.
 Emergent Ray: A ray of light which emerges out into the original medium after refraction is said to be an
emergent ray.
 Lateral Displacement: The perpendicular shift in the path of light, seen when it emerges out from the
refracting medium is called lateral displacement.
 Angle of Incidence (i): The angle formed between the normal and incident ray is called angle of incidence.
 Angle of Refraction (r): The angle formed between the refracted and normal ray is called angle of
refraction.
 Angle of Emergence (e): The angle formed between the normal and emergent ray is called angle of
emergence.
 Laws of Refraction:
(i) The incident ray, the normal ray and the refracted ray, all lie in the same plane.
(ii) The ratio of the sine of angle of incidence to the sine of angle of refraction is a constant quantity for the
two given media. This law is also known as Snell’s law. sin i/ sin r
This constant value is called the refractive index of the second medium with respect to the first.

index of refraction: n = c / v, where the speed of light in a medium is 'v' and 'c' is the speed of light in vacuum.

Rules of refraction:

Rule-1: When a light ray travels from a rarer medium to a denser medium, the light ray bends towards the normal.

Rule-2: When a light ray travels from a denser medium to a rarer medium, the light ray bends away from the normal.

Materials Required

A drawing board, 4-6 all pins, white sheet of paper, rectangular glass slab, a protractor, a scale, a pencil and thumb pins.
Procedure

1. Take a soft drawing board. Fix a white sheet on it with the help of thumb pins.
2. Place the rectangular glass slab in the centre of the white paper and draw its outline boundary with pencil.
3. Mark this rectangular figure obtained as ABCD.
4. On one side of this figure, i.e., AB take one point E, draw a perpendicular EN and label it as normal ray.
5. With the help of a protractor draw one angle of 30° with the EN. Fix two pins P and Q on the ray of this angle,
the distance between the pins should be more than 4-5 cm.
6. Put the glass slab on the rectangular figure ABCD.
7. See through the glass slab from side CD and fix pin R and S such that when seen through the glass slab all
the pins lie in straight line, [i.e., Pins P, Q, R and S should lie in straight line when seen through the glass slab],
‘
8. Now, remove the pins P, Q, R and S one by one and draw small circles around the pin points.
9. Remove the glass slab.
10. Join points R and S such that it meets CD at point F.
Draw perpendicular to CD at point F as N’M’.
11. Join points E and F with the pencil.
12. Measure the angles formed at AB and CD, i.e., the incident angle, refracted angle and emergent angle.
13. Extend ray PQ with scale and pencil in dotted line. It will be parallel to ray FRS. The distance between these
two parallel rays is called lateral displacement (d).
14. Measure the lateral displacement.
15. Repeat the above procedure for angles 45° and 60°.

OBSERVATION TABLE

Angle of incidence Angle of refraction


S.No. Angle of emergence ∠i – ∠e
(∠i = ∠PEN) ∠r = ∠MEF
∠e = ∠SFM’ ∠PEN – ∠SFM’

1. 30° 28° 30° 0°

2. 45° 43° 44.8° 0.2°

3. 60° 56° 59.8° 0.2°

Conclusion

1. The angle of incidence is nearly equal to the angle of emergence.


2. The angle of refraction is less than angle of incidence because light is travelling from rarer to denser optical
medium.
3. The lateral displacement remains the same for different angles of incidences.
4. When the light ray travels from optically rarer medium (air) to optically denser medium (glass) the light bends
towards the normal.

Precautions

1. The glass slab should be perfectly rectangular with all its faces smooth.
2. The drawing board should be soft so that pins can be easily fixed on it.
3. The angle of incidence should lie between 30° and 60°.
4. All pins base should lie in straight line.
5. While fixing the pins P and Q or the pins R and S, care should be taken to maintain a distance of about 5 cm
between the two pihs.
6. Draw thin lines using a sharp pencil.
7. Use a good quality protractor having clear markings.
8. Place the protractor correctly to measure the angles.
9. Perpendiculars should be drawn correctly.

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