REFLECTON of Light

Reflection is the bouncing off of light on certain surfaces.

Reflection by a plane mirror

A plane is a flat smooth reflecting surface which by regular reflection is used to form images. It has a
reflecting and silvered surfaces in most cases shown by shading behind the reflecting surface.
Types of reflection

Investigating Laws of reflection

The laws of reflection are true for all reflecting surfaces, for curved mirrors as well as plane mirrors
(surfaces). A plane mirror is more simple and convenient to use.

Apparatus :plane mirror, sheet of paper, protractor, ray box/ optical pins
Expt set-up

1
 REFRACTION

REFRACTION: is the bending of light when traveling form one medium to another with different optical densities.

Terms used in optics

Incident ray: original ray of light from the source of light

Refracted ray: ray of light that has been bent as it passes between media.

Emergent ray: ray of light leaving a medium after refraction.

¿
Incident angle (angle of incidence (i )): angle measured between the incident ray and the normal line at point of
incidence.
¿
Angle of refraction (r ): angle measured between the refracted ray and the normal line at point of incidence.
¿
Emergent angle (e ): angle measured between the emergent ray and the normal line at point of emergence.

Normal: imaginary dotted line drawn perpendicularly at points of incident or emergence

FACTS ABOUT REFRACTION

1. A ray of light bends away from the normal when moving from an optically denser medium to an
optically less dense medium.
2. A ray of light bends towards the normal when entering an optically denser medium from an
optically less dense medium.
3. A ray of light entering along the normal is not refracted- goes without any deviation.
4. A ray of light incident inside a denser medium at critical angle is refracted such that it is
perpendicular to that surface of incidence.
5. The incident ray is always parallel to the emergent ray.

DEMONSTRATION OF REFRACTION- DETERMINATION OF REFRACTIVE INDEX (n)

Materials
Glass block, pencil, 4 optical pins, drawing board, plain paper, ruler and a protractor

Procedure:

1. Place the plain paper on the drawing board

2. Place the glass block in the middle of the plain paper and trace its boundary(outline) using pencil
3. Insert optical pins 1 and 2 (P1 and P2) at an angle on one side of the glass block such that they are
in a straight line to the surface of the glass block.
4. Insert optical pins 3 and 4 (P3 and P4) on the other side of the glass block such that they are in a
straight line with images of P1 and P2 as seen through the glass block.
5. Remove the glass block and the optical pins and join positions of P1 and P2 with a straight line to
represent the incident ray (include an arrow to show direction of the ray)
6. Join positions of P3 and P4 with a straight line to represent the emergent ray (include an arrow to
show direction of the ray)
7. Trace the path of the ray inside the glass block by joining the points of incident and emergence
together using a straight line- this represent the refracted ray.

2
 8. use a protractor to draw a normal line at the point of incidence and measure the angles of
incidence and refraction
9. calculate the refractive index of the glass block using the expression below

sin i
refractive index(n )=
sin r
Illustration: refraction through a glass block

REFRACTIVE INDEX IN TERMS OF REAL DEPTH AND APPARENT DEPTH

Refraction causes:
(i) An object (e.g. a coin) placed at the bottom of a container holding
water to appear nearer the surface than it is.
(ii) Objects (e.g. ruler or pencil) to appear bent when placed in a
container holding water.

Illustration: “bent” pencil

The light rays from the point O of the pencil which is resting on the bottom of
the container are refracted away from the normal N1 and N2 as shown; the
pencil appears bent when viewed from above the surface of water.
To locate the image of the object construction lines are drawn straight
backward from the points of emergence.
(iii) Bottom of a pool to appear near the surface than it actually is.
The above examples give rise to what is known as real and apparent depths of
the water as illustrated below.

Illustration: real and apparent depths

3
The refractive index of a material (e.g. water or glass) can be calculated using real and apparent depths by the
expression below;
real depth
refractive index(n)=
apparent depth
TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION

The angle the ray makes with the normal in air is always greater than the angle it makes with the normal in the
medium (x > y).
When the angle of incidence inside the medium is increased gradually the angle of refraction also increases
proportionately. Eventually the angle of refraction becomes 90o.
The angle of incidence in the denser medium for which the angle of refraction is 90 is called the critical angle c.
(refer to figure b)
When the angle of incidence inside the denser medium is greater than the critical angle no light can escape fro the
denser medium and the light ray is said to be totally internally reflected. (refer to figure c)

Illustration: critical angle and total internal reflection

APPLICATION OF TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION

Total internal reflection is sued in fibre optics either in

A fibre optic is made of high quality glass of high refractive index coated with a thin layer of lower refractive index.
A ray of light entering the end of the thin fibre optic that strikes at an angle of incidence greater than the critical
angle is totally internally reflected along the whole length of the fibre.

Illustration: Fibre optic

a). Communication- passing signals as

light impulses
b). Medicine- used to view internal
organs or connected to surgical
instruments to enable operations of
such organs.
c). Periscope- view around obstacles

LENSES AND OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS

4
Lenses are made with a great of variety of shapes and or different kinds of glass but they all belong to either the
converging group or the diverging group of lenses. The converging type of lens converges (brings together) rays of
light and the diverging type diverges (spreads out) rays of light.

As can be seen in the figure below, the converging lenses are all thicker in the centre than at the edge whereas the
diverging lenses are all thinner in the center than at the edge.

Lens shapes

Lens definitions

The principal axis of a lens is the line joining the centers of curvature of its surfaces.

The optical centre of a lens L is the point midway between the lens surfaces on its principal axis. Rays passing
through the optical center are not deviated.

The principal focus F of a converging lens is the point to which all rays incident parallel to the principal axis
converge after refraction by the lens. This focus is real.

The principal focus F of a diverging lens is the point from which all rays incident parallel to the principal axis
appear to converge after refraction by the lens. This focus is virtual.

The focal length f of a lens is the distance between its optical centre and the principal focus.

NB A lens has two principal focuses, one on each side of the lens. When drawing ray diagrams the principal focus F
is marked on both side of the principal axis.

5
C1 = centre of curvature of face 1
C2 = centre of curvature of face 2
L = optical centre

Standard rays

In ray diagrams, any two of the following rays are needed to fix the image position and size:

1. A ray parallel to the principal axis passes through F after leaving the
lens.

2. A ray through F’ leaves the lens parallel to the principal axis.

3. A ray through the centre passes straight through the lens.

NB:
 For simplicity, rays are drawn from just one point on the object. In reality rays are from every different on
the object.
 Only two rays are needed to fix where the image is.

6
  For simplicity, rays are shown bending at the line through the middle of the lens. In reality, bending takes
place at each surface.
Images formed by converging lens

Object O, uses Ray diagram Image i

a) o between F and L
i) virtual
i)magnifying glass ii)erect
ii)instrument eye piece iii)magnified
iii)Spectacles correction for iv)on same side of
long-sightedness lens as O and further
away

b) O at F

Produces a parallel beam of

light as in a spot light with At infinity
lamp at O.

c) O between F and 2F i) real

ii) inverted
i) projector iii) magnified
ii) microscope objective lens iv) on opposite side
of lens to O, beyond
2F.

i) real
d) O at 2F ii) inverted
iii) Same size as O.
Camera making equal size iv) on opposite side
copies of the lens to O, at
2F.

e) O beyond 2F i) real
ii) inverted
i) camera iii) diminished
ii) the eye iv) on opposite side
of lens, between F
and 2F.
This is diagram c)
reversed.

f) O at infinity i) real
ii) inverted
Objective lens of a telescope. iii) diminished
iv) on opposite side

7
 of lens at F.
This is diagram b)
reversed

Image formed by a diverging lens

i) eyepiece in some i) virtual

instrument. ii) erect
ii) in spectacles to correct iii) diminished
short-sightedness iv) on same side of
lens as O, but nearer.

Magnification (m)
Magnification is the ratio of the size (height) of image to the size (height) of object?

size of image
magnification=
sizeof object
Linear magnification can have a value less 1 when the image is diminished, equal to 1 when the object and image
are the same size or greater than 1 when the image is magnified.