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.
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.
Hello, this is a repost from a much less-clear question I posted before (link to question: https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/triangles-inside-a-circle-to-represent-raypaths-inside-an-ideal-earth.1011998/#post-6596165).
It's kind of a loaded question, however it can be expressed as triangles...
I have managed to get some of the required distances and angles. I have the distance ##a##, the velocity inside the mantle, the total radius of the Earth ##R_t## as well as mantle and core radii. I have also figured out the angle of incidence, however I cannot get the refracted angle with the...
I tried using the formula for the refraction of a spherical lens ##\frac{n_1}{p}+\frac{n_2}{q}=\frac{n_2-n_1}{R}## consider each slab as a spherical lens with curvature ##R=\infty## and by doing that I get ##\frac{1.33}{10}+\frac{1.5}{q}=0\Leftrightarrow q\approx -11.3 cm##. Since the piece of...
I used the equation for the refraction on a spherical surface: ##\frac{n_1}{p}+\frac{n_2}{q}=\frac{n_2-n_1}{R}##, where ##n_1=1## is the index of refraction of air, ##n_2## the index of refraction of the sphere, ##R## is the radius of the glass sphere, ##p## is the object distance which, since...
a) I managed to obtain some results that are roughly around what is given in the answers.
Because \varepsilon_{st} and \varepsilon_{\infty} are values of \varepsilon_{1}, I used this approximation:
n\approx \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}} (\varepsilon_{1}+\sqrt{\varepsilon_{1}^2})^{1/2}
-> \varepsilon_{1} =...
Consider a light starting at A in media 1 and going in and out a media 2 (say shaped as a disk) with relative index of refraction n to arrive at point B (in media 1).
Fermat's principle says that the path taken by the ray between points A and B is the path that can be traversed in the least...
Hello, hopefully the question made sense, it was hard to translate. i attached a photo about the question.
I started with n1=1.4, sinΘ1=37◦ and n2=1.62
1.4(sin(37◦))=1.62sinΘ2
1.4(sin(37◦))/1.62=sinΘ2
arcsin(0.52)=31.34◦
Is it calculated correctly?
There are 5 fantastic videos in this website: http://www.alfredleitner.com/
He is a very good educator and it is also very good to see those authentic experiments and aparatus.
Anyway, in the following one at exacly 8:00 minutes he says that the phase lag induced by the dipole is always 90...
I understand that electrons of a material have a natural frequency of vibration and the refractive index results from the phase difference between the incident light's field oscillations and the field oscillations of these electrons...
From This picture, I think the fish will be smaller but the problem is how small will it be?
(Fish "L" is the image of fish "K")
Let ##H## be the depth of fish "K", ##\theta## be the angle of eyes to y-axis and ##n## is the index of refraction of water.
As you can see we have 3 media here. Only focus on the glass and coating medium. Assume an incident ray comes from the air medium and is refracted inside the glass and then it is refracted again in the coating medium. The x angle is the angle inside the glass medium. In this case, if the...
The size of light beam is same or different before and after refraction from a medium. If same then why we can not prove from mathematical expression. If not same why?
In my latest 10th grade physics lesson, we were learning about the refraction of light. I decided to share what I knew about why light slows down in a vacuum, which is, in short, because the electric field of the electromagnetic wave exerts a force on the charged electrons of a medium, which in...
The picture below shows a so-called chromatic doublet, which is designed to minimize chromatic aberration, ie the wavelength dependence of the refractive index of the glass. The first lens has a flat first surface and a concave second surface with radius of curvature R and index of refraction n1...
A thin lens has an upper radius of curvature 𝑅1 and a lower radius of curvature 𝑅2. When the lens is completely surrounded by air, it has a focal distance 𝑓. The lens is then placed in the interface between air and water inside a vessel (see figure). Calculate the refractive index for the glass...
Homework Statement: Lens questions.
Homework Equations: idk
Hello, so I was wanting to use a laser beam and purchase a few lens' online for a project and wanted to get something similar to the image below, where i would end with a horizontal light ray i was wondering if anyone knows the...
Homework Statement
A thin (460 nm) film of kerosene (n=1,20) is spread out on water (n = 1,30).
Light hits the (horizontal) surface of the film coming (almost) perpendicularly from above.
A diver underwater, below the film.
a) Find out the visible wavelength reflected into air that has the...
Homework Statement
A scientist investigating the movements of dolphins in the Mediterranean uses a dart gun to shoot small, harmless tracking devices onto the fins of dolphins. When standing on deck, her hand is 1m above the water, and looking along the dart gun she is holding at an angle of...
1.
A light ray in dense flint glass that has an index of refraction of 1.655 is incident to the glass surface. An UNKNOWN liquid condenses on the glass's surface. Total internal reflection on the glass-liquid interface occurs for a minimum angle of incidence on the glass-liquid interface at...
For class I conducted a experiment where I made sugar solutions, poured them into a glass prism container and used a laser pointer to find the refractive index. However, while typing in my results I realized I found the angle of deviation instead of the minimum angle of deviation since I didn't...
In frustrated total internal reflection, is there refraction corresponding to the refractive index difference between the first and third medium or does the light continue in straight line as it is usually depicted in graphic representations of the frustrated total internal reflection?
How do i apply the laws of refraction to plane and curved surfaces. I have absolutely no idea how to even start on this one, its got nothing to do with the course, i am going to study. i need to understand this to move on but i genuinely have absolutely no interest in optics. I really can not...
I am extremely confused by the use of the term coefficient of increase of something. For example , if it is stated that the index of refraction varies linearly with a coefficient of 2.5×10^-5, how is this coefficient defined? Is it simply the slope of the line plotted with index of refraction on...
Homework Statement
A vessel is filled with water of refractive index 4/3.The height of the vessel is 60cm.A fish F is at 40 cm below the surface of water.A bird B is 30cm above the surface of water.The bottom of the vessel behaves as plane mirror. How many images of fish will be seen by the...
Homework Statement
2. Homework Equations
3. The Attempt at a Solution [/B]
I tried to solve this question with the general formula n=sin i / sin r. 1.5 = sin 30/sin r,
r = 19.4 = 19 which is option A. But option A is incorrect. Please guide me where am I wrong..
Suppose I have a wave tank partially filled with a shear thickening Newtonian fluid (Oobleck), on top of which sits a layer of water (separated by a thin membrane to prevent mixing)
If I propagate a surface wave in the water layer how will it conduct itself at the Newtonian/Non Newtonian Fluid...
If there is a fiber optic cable with a diameter d, the index of refraction of the cladding the cable is given, and so is the index of refraction core of the cable, how would you formulate an equation for the minimum radius of bend the cable can have?
Thank you in advance.
We know interference of waves play a role in causing "colors" on soap bubbles.
But does light refraction play a role in bubble iridescence?
When the light wave travels into the soap bubble surface, won't it refract since the wave is into a different matter (what matter the soap bubble surface...
I recently was able to view a 193 foot building from 24 miles away. The base of the building is approximately 15 feet above sea level and my eye level was approximately 9 feet above sea level. I was viewing the building across a Lake. I could see a substantial amount of the building, which...
Why does an increased electrical permittivity reduce the phase velocity of light in a medium? Furthermore, what interactions do we see on an atomic level?
I am aware of the equation that defines the speed of light in terms of the electrical permittivity and magnetic permeability, but I do not...
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electromagnetism
maxwell equations
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We recently performed an experiment with the idea to find refractive index of medium (water) as a function of wavelength of light. We then added some sugar to see how the refractive index changes with concentration of sugar solution. We got the following graphs.
Are the relationships...
Hi,
My understanding is that when light (with some frequency and polarization) hits the interface between two media (each with some frequency-dependent material properties), the Fresnel equations apply. This tells us how much light reflects back versus refracts across the interface.
I'm...
Hi all,
I'm after a little guidance for I do not know what is going wrong.
I understand that for Johann Bernoulli's proof of the brachistochrone problem he used refraction of light and Fermat's principle of least time.
I have decided to do a project on the subject, in which I am dividing up a...
Homework Statement
A non-transclucent container in the form of a cylinder, has a diameter of 3.00 m, has its top part open, and is filled with water. When the sun created a 28.0 degree angle with the horizontal, the light doesn't illuminate the bottom of the container. What's the depth of the...
Suppose that I use a prism (vertex angle ##\alpha##) spectroscope to analyze a beam of visible light from a mercury lamp (different wavelenghts) and I want the determine the refraction index of the prism using the minmum deviation angles ##D_{min}##...
When we touch the screen of a mobile or laptop we can see some colors on the sweat adhered to the screen.Which property of light can explain it? Is it for interference or for refraction?
Homework Statement
Eyeglass lenses can be coated on the inner surfaces to reduce the reflection of stray light to the eye. If the lenses are medium flint glass of refractive index 1.62 and the coating is fluorite of refractive index 1.432, (a) what minimum thickness of film is needed on the...
Hello,
This has been bugging me for some time now, so I would be interested to see what I have been missing so far.
Imagine a single ray of light (made up of many photons) hitting a perfectly non-absorbing (for this wavelength of light) spherical dielectric object, which has finite mass. The...
A person completely under sea water tracks the sun. Compared to an observer above water, which of the following observation would be made by the underwater observer?
Neither the time of sunrise or sunset nor the angular span of the horizon changes
sunrise is delayed, sunset is advanced but...
Homework Statement
The two rays shown below, a and b, have different wavelengths. They travel through the glass prism as shown; 1) is this possible? 2) If this is possible, which has the longer wavelength, ray a or ray b?
[see attached figure]
Homework Equations
λ = λi/n
critical angle =...
Homework Statement
I'm having trouble / uncertainties about the third missing angle (from left to right) in the picture. The first angle of reflection was easy as it's just 34 degrees aswell and I used snell's law rearranged to find the first angle of refraction as 13.36 degrees from the...
Homework Statement
I am given the following figure:
These are converging rays that appear to be going to a point F convert to a plane wave upon hitting the boundary between n2 and n1, and I am asked to find the equation for the boundary between n1 and n2 that perfectly accomplishes this...
Here is a problem that showed up on my exam that I couldn't find any variation online. A stick of length L is depth D in the water. The stick is parallel to the surface of the water, and the viewer (in air) is looking down in the water right over the middle of the stick. What is the apparent...
Hi!
I'm doing a light research project and to have a refraction and reflection ( I don't know if it's like this in eglish) visual representation I came up with this photo. I don't know the name of this tool and also what is it made of? In my opinion is just a glass but I dont really know. Thanks!
Homework Statement
I need to describe an experiment in which I would use internal reflection to determine the index of refraction of material
Homework Equations
Snell's law
The Attempt at a Solution
I understand the concept of internal reflection, such as the critical angle etc. I am just...
What is the intuition for why the frequency of light does not change as it passes from a less dense medium to a denser one (or vice versa)?
Classically, if we treat light in terms of waves, then intuitively, is the reason why the frequency does not change because it is determined by the...