Laser to determine effect of sucrose concentration on refractive index

AI Thread Summary
The discussion focuses on an experiment to explore the relationship between sucrose concentration and refractive index using a laser pointer. The experiment seeks to establish a mathematical relationship while considering the straightforward nature of the hypothesis. Suggestions include measuring the rotation of polarization due to sucrose's optical activity, which may provide more measurable results than refraction angle changes. The participant expresses confusion about varying sucrose's optical activity, indicating a need for clarification on this aspect. Overall, the goal is to enhance the experiment by incorporating additional variables or optimizing properties.
barca12345
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Hi!

I want to conduct an experiment to investigate the effect of sucrose concentration on refractive index using a laser pointer however I would like to complicate this experiment as this is just a simple how x affects y experiment.

It may also seem to straight forward as obviously higher concentration would have a higher refractive index and I can only apply snell's law on this. I am looking forward to achieving an actual mathematical relationship between the two variables.

Is there anyway I can expand on this idea? Perhaps to find an optimum property? Or investigate more independent variables?

Any suggestions would be appreciated greatly!

Thank you.
 
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The change in the refraction angle is small and probably hard to measure. What would be easier would be to determine the rotation of the polarisation due to the optical activity of sucrose.
 
I'm a little confused. How do I vary the optical activity of sucrose?
 
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