WHAT IS CRITICAL ANGLE?
When light ray enters a lighter medium from a
denser medium it changes its’ direction away
from the normal. That means the angle of
refraction becomes greater than the angle of
incidence. For a certain value of the angle of
incidence the angle of refraction will be 90 °.
This angle of incidence is called the critical
angle.
In a word,
The critical angle is defined as the angle of
incidence in the optically denser medium
for which the angle of refraction in the less
dense medium is 90°.
WHAT IS TOTAL
INTERNAL REFLECTION?
When light ray enters a lighter medium from a
denser medium it changes its’ direction away
from the normal. That means the angle of
refraction becomes greater than the angle of
incidence. When the light ray incident at an
angle which is more than the critical angle, the
angle of refraction cannot be more than 90 °. In
this case, it is seen that the light ray is strongly
reflected. This phenomenon is known as total
internal reflection.
In a word,
When light ray falls on a surface of lighter
medium from denser medium at an angle
of incidence which is greater than the
critical angle, the light does not refract. It
rather reflects back in the same medium,
which is known as TOTAL INTERNAL
REFLECTION.
It has two conditions. They are-
Light ray must travel from denser to
lighter medium.
Light ray must make an angle of
incident which is greater than the
critical angle of denser medium.
It can be used in many ways. Such as –
Periscope and Binoculars
Optical fibers
WHAT IS REFRACTIVE INDEX?
When light ray enters obliquely a denser
medium from a lighter medium or lighter
medium from a denser medium it changes
its’ direction. This is called the refraction of
light. The relation between the angle of
incidence, i and the angle of refraction, r is -
sin i
sin r
The value of the ratio of the sine of the
incidence angle to the sine of the refractive
angle is constant for two particular
medium. This constant is known as
refractive index.
The greater the value of refractive index of
a medium with air the greater the grater
the bending and slower the speed of light
when it passes from air in to that medium.
The refractive index is the measure of
bending of a light ray when passing from
one medium to another. It can also be
defined as the ratio of the speed of light in
vaccum to the speed of light in the
medium.
So the refractive index, nis –
sin i
n=
sin r
WHAT IS THE RELATION
BETWEEN REFRACTIVE
INDEX AND CRITICAL
ANGLE?
A light ray going from denser to lighter
medium the angle of incidence, i is the
angle of incidence is the critical angle, c , so
the angle of refraction, r is 90°.
That means,
i = c and r =90 °
At the glass-to-air boundary, and by the
principle if reversibility of light, we have this
equation:
sin 90° 1
n= =
sin c sin c
1
∴ sin c=
n
That means the sine of critical angle of two
particular media is inversely proportional to
the refractive index of these two media.
This is the relation between the refractive
index and critical angle.
ASSIGNMENT
Explain the critical angle and
the total internal reflection.
Explain what is refractive
index and the relation
between the relation and the
refractive index and the
critical angle.
ST. Joseph International School
PRESENTED BY:
NAME: Lami Nazom
CLASS: 8
SECTON: c
ROLL: 34
SUBMITTED TO:
NAZIA KHAN
SUBJECT: Physics
DATE: 15-05-2024
