TABLE 23-1 Indices of Refraction’ Medium a= ele Vacoum 1.0000 Air (at STP) 1,003 Water 133 Ethyl aleoho! 136 Giass Fused quartz 146 Crown plas 13 Lighe fin, 138 Lucite orPlexiglss 151 Sodium chloride 133 Diamond 242 smn, Index of refraction Convex rearview mirrors on vehicles sometimes come with 9 warning that objects are closer than they appear in the mirror, The faet that d, may be smaller than d, (as in this Example) seems to contradict this observation. The real reason the object scems farther away is that its image in the convex mirror is smaller, and we judge distance of ordinary abjects such as other cars ‘mostly by their size. Ez Index of Refraction We saw in Chapter 22 that the speed of light in vacuum 6 = 2.99792458 % 10" m/s, Which we usually round off to © = 3.00 10°m/s When extremely precise results are not required. This speed applies to all elec- tromagnetic waves, including visible light In air the speed is only slightly less. In other transparent materials, such as lass and water, the speed is always less than that in vacuum. For example, in Waler light travels at about 3. The ratio of the speed of light in vacuum 10 the speed e in @ given material is called the index of refraction, 1, of that material: (23-4) ‘The index of refraction is never less than I.and values for various materials are given in Table 23-1. As we shall see later, n varies somewinal with the wave- length of the light—except in vacuum—so a particular wavelength is specified in the Table, that of yellow light with wavelength A = S89 nm. Light’s speed in diamond, Calculate the speed of light in diamond, APPROACH We use Ey. 23-4, finding from Table 2 diamond. SOLUTION The speed of light traveling inside a diamond is 1 that = 242 for pala - odtze nm 2az OA 3.0 x 108 m/s 2a2 = 124 10 m/s ‘That light travels more slowly in matter than in vacuum can be explained at the atomic level as being due to the absorption and remission of | and molecules of the materi Ea Refraction: Snell's Law When light passes from one transparent medium into another with a different index of refraction, part of the incident light is reflected at the boundary. The remainder passes into the new medium. If a ray of light is incident at an angle to the surface (other than perpendicular), the ray changes direction as it enters the new medium, This change in direction, or bending, is called refraction 642 CHAPTER 23 Light: Geometric OpticsNormal Airiny Water) FIGURE 23-19 Retraction Refiated (a) Light retracted wen passing fem ey air yim water (nm, > m mom n>m (by Light efraze wien passin from (@ Ray bonds toward (0) Ray bonds away fom 2 water (ito air) > Figure 23-19a shows a ray passing [rom air into water. Angle @ is the angle the ineident ray makes with the normal (perpendicular) to the surface and is called the angle of incidence. Angle 6, is the angle of refraction, the angle the refracted ray makes with the normal to the surface. Notice that the ray bends toward the normal when entering the water. This is always the ease when the ray enters a medium where the speed of light is ess (and the index of refraction sreater, Eq, 23-4), If light travels from one medium into a second where its speed is greater, the ray bends away from the normal; this is shown in ig, 23-19 for a ray traveling from water to air. Foot appears beter FIGURE 23-20 Ray diagram showing why a persons legs look shorter whon Standing in waistdeep water: the path of light traveling from the bathers foot (o the observer's eye bends a the water's surfiee,and our brain interprets the light as having traveled ina straight line, from higher p (dashed line). Refraction is responsible for a number of common optical illusions. For ‘example, a person standing in waist-deep water appears to have shortened legs, As shown in Fig. 23-20, the rays leaving the person's foot are bent at the surface, The observer's brain assumes the rays to have traveled a straight-line ppath (dashed red line), and so the feet appear to be higher than they really are. Similarly, when you put a pencil in water, it appears to be bent (Fig. 23-21) Snell's Law ‘The angle of refraction depends on the speed of light in the (wo media and on the incident angle. An analytical relation between 8, and 9, was arrived at experimentally about 1621 by Willebrord Snell (1591—1626). [tis known ns Snell's law and is writen: 1 sin Os 23-5) 6, is the angle of incidence and @, is the angle of refraction; and ms are the respective indices of refraction in the materials. See Fig, 25~19."The incident and refracted rays le in the same plane, which also includes the perpendicular to the surface, Snell's law is the basic law of refraction. (Snell's law was derived in Section L114 where Eq, 11-20 is just a combination of Eqs. 23~S and 23-4.) It is clear from Snell's law that if mp > mm, then A < 0}. That is, if light enters a medium where mis greater (and its speed less) then the ray is bent toward the normal. And if ns < my, then 8: > 6,50 the ray bends away from the normal, Tas is what we savv in Fig. 23-19 ny sind Angle of refraction FIGURE 28-21 A pea in water Tonks bent even she itis @envsies # pica sto Lie Snel’ law {law of refraction) cauTiON Angles aad are cased onic perpen, not rom surface SECTION 23-5 Refraction: Snell's Law 643