Lesson Worksheets

2 Refraction of Light
2.1 The laws of refraction
Terms
 refraction (折射)
 medium (介質)
 laws of refraction (折射定律)
 Snell’s law (斯涅耳定律)
 refractive index (折射率)
 apparent depth (視深)
 dispersion (色散)

1 When a light ray enters a medium from another at an angle, it bends. The bending of
light is called _________________.

Expt 2a Refraction of light  p.31

Objective
To find a law about the refraction of light by investigating the relationship between the angle
of incidence and the angle of refraction.

Set-up

Fig a

Direct a ray of light to enter a semicircular glass block from its straight edge. The light ray
must hit the centre of the block (Fig a). Measure the angle of incidence i and the angle of
refraction r. Repeat with other angles of incidence. Record the results in a table. Plot sin i
against sin r in a graph.

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2 In Experiment 2a, the graph of sin i against sin r is a

_____________ line passing through the origin (Fig 2a).
This means = ______________.

Fig 2a

3 When a ray of light passes from one medium to another, the refraction of light obeys
the _____________________________.

- The ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of
refraction is a constant, that is,
= ______________

- The incident ray, the refracted ray and the normal all lie in the same _________.

4 The relationship = ______________, is called ____________ law. This is true for

any pair of values of i and r. The constant depends on the _____________ across which
light ray travels.

Example 1  p.32 Eg 1

In an experiment, a light ray is incident on a semicircular glass block from air (Fig a).
If r = 19.2 when i = 30. Find r if i = 60.

By Snell’s law,
=

Fig a

 Check-point 1 (p.32)

5 Consider light travelling from air to another medium (e.g. glass). Then we define

n=

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where n is a constant called the ________________________ of the medium.

6 The refractive index is a ratio and does not have a unit. The refractive index of vacuum
is _______.

7 Strictly speaking, n refers to a ray travelling from a vacuum to another medium.

However it makes very little difference if it is from air instead. The refractive index of
air therefore can be taken as __________.

8 Different media have different refractive indices. The larger the refractive index, the
_______________ amount of bending occurs in the medium.

9 In general, Snell’s law can be expressed as

n1 sin 1 = ___________

where 1 and 2 stand for the two media that light crosses. Fig 2b

Example 2  p.33 Eg 2

Find the refractive index of the semicircular glass block in Example 1.

By Snell’s law,

 Check-point 2 (p.35)

10 Light travels at different ____________ in different media. Refraction results from the
change in the ______________ of light when it crosses a boundary.

11 The refractive index of a medium also equals the ratio of the ___________ of light in a
vacuum (or air) to that in the medium, i.e.

where c and v are the speeds of light in a vacuum (or air) and the medium respectively.

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12 The higher the refractive index of a medium, the ___________ the speed of light in the
medium.
13 A material with a larger refractive index is called an optically _______________
medium; a material with a smaller refractive index is called an optically
________________ medium.

14 When a light ray travels to an optically denser medium, the speed of light ___________
and the ray is bent ____________ the normal (Fig 2c). When a light ray travels to an
optically less dense medium, the speed of light ____________ and the ray is bent
_____________ the normal (Fig 2d).

Fig 2c Fig 2d

Example 3  p.37 Eg 4

The speed of light in air is 3  108 m s–1 and the speed of light in glass is 2  108 m s–1 Find
the refractive index of glass.
By ,

The refractive index of glass is ________.

 Check-point 3 (p.37)

15 To an observer standing at poolside, the

bottom of the pool seems to be at a higher
position (Fig 2e), i.e. the pool looks
________________.

Fig 2e

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16 The depth as seen by the observer is called the _______________ depth. In Figure 2e,
the apparent depth is ______________ than the real depth of the swimming pool.
Example 4  p.39 Eg 5

The bucket as shown appears to be shallower when filled with water (Fig a). The object at
the bottom of the bucket therefore appears (Fig b).

Fig a Fig b

(a) Draw a ray diagram in Figure c to show how the observer sees the object.
(b) How does the image different from the object?

(a)

Fig c

(b) The image appears ____________ and ___________ to the water surface.

17 Different colours of light travel at slightly different speeds in materials. As a result they
are refracted by different amounts when they enter a material. When white light passes
through a prism, it is refracted twice and separated into different ___________ (Fig 2f).
A spectrum is formed and this effect is called _______________.

Fig 2f

 Check-point 4 (p.41)

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2.2 Total internal reflection

Terms
 critical angle (臨界角)  optical fibres (光導纖維)
 total internal reflection (全內反射)  mirage (海市蜃樓)

Expt 2b Total internal reflection  p.44

Objective
To examine the conditions for total internal reflection.

Set-up

Fig a

Direct a ray of light to enter the semicircular block from its curved edge towards its centre O
(Fig a). Slowly increase the angle of incidence θg and watch how the refracted ray changes.

1 In Experiment 2b, the result will be different when the rays hitting the inside face of the
semicircular block at different angles.

i The incident ray splits into two rays: a

_____________ ray inside the Perspex
and a _____________ ray in the air.

Fig 2g

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ii The incident ray also splits into two

rays. The angle of refraction becomes
______ and the refracted ray just
manages to leave the Perspex surface.
Fig 2h

iii The incident ray is totally reflected

inside the Perspex. There is no
_____________ ray.

Fig 2i

2 Angle C in Figure 2h is called the _______________________. It is the angle of

incidence at which the angle of refraction is 90.

3 If a light ray hits the surface at an angle greater than the critical angle (Fig 2i), it is
totally reflected inside the block. This phenomenon is called __________________
______________________________.

4 Total internal reflection only occurs for an incident ray in an optically _____________
medium. It never occurs when light from an optically _________________ medium to
an optically _________________ medium.

5 Consider Figure 2h. According to Snell’s law,

n sin C = 1  sin 90

or C =

where n is the refractive index of the medium.

Example 5  p.46 Eg 7

A light ray enters a rectangular ice block of refractive index 1.31 from air as shown (Fig a).
If the ray is totally reflected on surface AB, what is the maximum value of angle  ?

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Fig a
air
ice


A B

 Hint: Find the critical angle C for the ice-air interface first.

C= air
ice

 = 90 – C = 
By Snell’s law, C
A B

Fig b

The maximum value of angle  is _______.

 Check-point 5 (p.47)

6 In an optical fibre, the refractive index of the inner core is much ____________ than
the outer cladding (Fig 2j).

Fig 2j

Example 6  p.49 Eg 8

A ray of light is incident from glass into water (Fig a). The refractive index of glass is 1.6
and that of water is 1.33.
glass

water

Fig a

(a) Calculate the critical angle for the glass-water interface.

(b) Will the ray be totally reflected if the glass and water layer is reversed?

(a) By Snell’s law,

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The critical angle for the glass-water interface is _____________.

(b)

7 A prism behaves like a perfect mirror if light rays are incident on its inside face at an
angle greater than the critical angle. They do not from ____________ images as plane
mirrors do (Fig 2k).

Fig 2k

8 The road appears wet on a hot day because of total internal reflection (Fig 2l). What we
see is only the reflection of the sky. This type of illusion is called a _____________.

Fig 2l

9 Diamonds sparkle because they easily reflect back light which goes into them due to
their ____________ refractive index (Fig 2m).

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cut at appropriate cut too deep cut too shallow

Fig 2m
angles

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10 The view under water is squeezed into a cone with an angle of about _______ (Fig 2n).

Fig 2n

Example 7  p.55 Eg 11

A diver looks upwards underwater. His eyes are 3 m below the water surface.
(a) What is the angle of the fish-eye view that he sees?
(b) What is the diameter of his view?
The refractive index of water is 1.33.

(a)

(b)

 Check-point 6 (p.55)

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