Refraction Definition and 751 Threads

Homework Statement A fisherman in a stream 20 cm deep looks downward into the water of stream and sees a rock on the stream bed. How deep does the stream appear to the fisherman? Homework Equations We Assume that the index of refraction of the water is 1.33. The Attempt at a...

A laser beam traveling in air strikes the mid- point of one end of a slab of material with index of refraction 1.45 as shown in the figure below. Dimensions of Block 46mm (L) and 3.4mm (W) Initial ray of light enters the slab from the left side at an angle of incidence of 39 degrees...

I am a IGCSE student! Ok so in the physics w08 qp ( http://www.xtremepapers.net/CIE/Cambridge%20IGCSE/0625%20-%20Physics/0625_w08_qp_03.pdf ) Qestion 5 c Using a 40 W heater, 16.3 g of ice is melted in 2.0 minutes. The heater is then switched off. In a further 2.0 minutes, 2.1 g of ice...

The speed of light in a certain substance is 79.0% of its value in water. What is the index of refraction of this substance? Here's what I've done so far: (3.0*10^8 m/s)(0.79) because its 79%. In water, the n=1.003. I'm not sure where to go from there. Any help would be greatly...

Homework Statement A light ray strikes the surface between two transparent materials as shown. Each angle is labeled with a letter. Give the letters for the angle of incidence, angle of refraction and angle of reflection, in that order Homework Equations...

Homework Statement A ray of light is incident in water on a plane water-glass boundary. The angle of incidence is 30 degrees. Calculate the angle of refraction. (Refractive index of glass with respect to air =3/2, refractive index of water with respect to air = 4/3). Homework Equations...

Homework Statement A beam of light in air strikes a piece of glass (n=1.51) and is partially reflected and partially refracted. Find the angle of incidence if the angle of reflection is twice the angle of refraction. Homework Equations n1sintheta1 = n2sintheta2 The Attempt at a...

Homework Statement A low power laser is incident at the interface between crown glass (n=1.52), and air at an angle of 45 degrees. The refracted ray into air makes an angle with respect to the normal of the surface that is closest to ... Question 2 answers 27.7 degrees 41.1 degrees...

Take Electromagntic wave for example , when light pass from vacuum to one medium , how does the atoms of the medium bend the light towards a certain direction at the microscopic level ?

Homework Statement While studying physics at the library late one night, you notice the image of the desk lamp reflected from the varnished tabletop. When you turn your Polaroid sunglasses sideways, the reflected image disappears. If this occurs when the angle between the incident and...

Homework Statement A kitchen has twin side-by-side sinks. One sink is filled with water, the other is empty. 1) Does the sink with water appear to be deeper, shallower, or the same depth as the empty sink? 2) Choose the best explanation from among the following: a) The sink with...

Homework Statement After finishing your physics classes with the firm conviction that the questions were strange and out of touch with reality, you decide to take up spear fishing. While wading through water (of index of refraction=n and depth h) you spot a fish that appears to be a...

Homework Statement A laser beam enters a 10.0cm thick glass window at an angle of 30 degrees from the normal. The index of refraction of the glass is 1.46. At what angle from the normal does the beam travel through the glass? Homework Equations sin theta 1 / sin theta 2 = n1 / n2 = v1 /...

I am not a physicist but I do have a non-mathematical science background and I am a serious physics appreciator. I am new to this site and have a pressing question I would like to ask a physicist. High school and even college level physics texts desribe the reflection and refraction of light...

Homework Statement This question is question 5 from chapter 4 of Hecht's Optics, 4th edition. I found a pdf of the homework set, and the question is labeled as 4.5. http://www.physics.byu.edu/faculty/hess/471W09/Homework/Ch4.pdf" Homework Equations Not completely sure The...

Homework Statement Is it possible to move an object and a lens in such a way that the image is virtual? The Attempt at a Solution Well I could use a convex lens, and shine a light into it, then something would happen. The light would be angled up or angled down (depending on the...

THe wavelength of a red helium-neon laser light in air is 632.8 nm. A) what is the frequency? ( i already figured this out to be 4.7 x 10^16) B) what is its wavelenght in glass that has an index of refraction of 1.50?( i do not know where to or if i have to plug in the refraction into an...

Hello, Ok, I have been looking for a chart anywhere on the internet concerning the density of materials and the index of refraction. Wikipedia has one but it is just the different density of one type of glass vs index of refraction. I am looking for a chart with many materials and all their...

Homework Statement Parallel light rays travel from air towards a glass hemisphere with radius R and index of refraction ng > nair. A top view is shown in the figure. http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/6380/parallellightrays.jpg (a) Determine where the light rays come to a focus relative to the...

Homework Statement Studying the mirage, we can assume that the index of refraction depends only on the vertical coordinate z. A ray of light starts from {0,0} with angle \beta\leq30. It's trajectory fits on an ellipse with major axis a and minor axis b. a) Give n(z)=? b) What is the trajectory...

Hello there, I'm wondering if there is any restricting reason why fiber optic cables are not made thicker. Regardless of the practical applications, is there any reason you can't make a fiber optic cable that is only 2m long but 2cm thick (compared to the normal 0.0125 cm thick)? Does width of...

Homework Statement Giancoli Ed. 6, Ch. 24, #52 One of the beams of an interferometer passes through a small glass container containing a cavity 1.3 cm deep. When a gas is allowed to slowly fill the container, a total of 236 dark fringes are counted to move past a reference line. The light...

We have the index of refraction formula of n = \frac{c}{v} which essential states how much of a factor light travels faster in a vacuum than in this medium. Why don't they just have it as n=\frac{v}{c} so it states fractionally how much slower light travels in the medium than the speed of...

Homework Statement Hello: I am wondering if someone can help with the following? A rod that is 96 cm long is made of glass with index of refraction of 1.6. The rod has its end ground to convex spherical surfaces with radii of 8 cm and 16 cm. An object is in air on the long axis of the rod...

Homework Statement A glass lens is coated on one side with a thin film of magnesium floride (MgF2) to reduce reflection from the lens surface. The index of refraction of MgF2 is 1.38; that of the glass is 1.50. Assume that the light is perpendicular to the lens surface and that the thickness...

Homework Statement Hi all its me again.need help again =] well basically i am stuck at b part (iii), no idea on how to find out theta 3 =/ Homework Equations hmm 180- something =/? no idea The Attempt at a Solution well i though at first that it would be this way: 180=90+19.47 =/...

I'm building a project that requires to look through a window and see a specific color, however there are different colors either side, and depending on what angle you look through the little window with depends on which color you see. I would like it so that looking from most angles would, in...

What is the minimum (non-zero) thickness of a soap film having index of refraction 1.46, with air on both sides, that transmits virtually 100% of 500 nm light incident along the normal? a. 345 nm. b. 86 nm. c. Any thickness transmits 100%. d. 172 nm. I used...

Homework Statement An underwater swimmer observes that a beam of sunlight in the water makes an angle of 18.7° with the vertical. The index of refraction for water is equal to 1.33. Assuming the surface of the water is level, determine the beam's angle as it enters the water...

Homework Statement Is there any way to calculate a solution's concentration (mass percentage - that is, the percentage of the solute mass to the solution mass) just by knowing its index of refraction? If it helps, the solute is NaCl, so I know the molar mass of the solute. I also have the...

Homework Statement A man whose eyes are 2 m above the ground is looking into a clear lake. He sees a treasure chest on the bottom of the lake, which is 1 m deep. His eyes make an angle of 30 degrees below the horizontal as he looks at the chest. If he wants to shoot the chest with a bow and...

Hey, this is just an exercise in my textbook. I think I have the solution, but I would just like for someone to verify my answer. A coin rests on the bottom of a tank of water 1m deep, with a 20cm layer of benzene on top of the water. n for water is 1.33, for benzene it is 1.5. Find the...

Homework Statement A penny is located at the bottom of a barrel of water 1m deep. There is a 20cm thick layer of oil on top of the water. To an observer at normal incidence, what is the apparent depth of the penny. n for water is 1.33, for oil it is 1.5 Homework Equations Snell's law...

[SOLVED] Index of refraction Homework Statement An air bubble inside an 9.00 cm-diameter plastic ball is 2.90 cm from the surface. As you look at the ball with the bubble turned toward you, how far beneath the surface does the bubble appear to be? Homework Equations n_1/s + n_2/s' =...

Homework Statement To a fish in an aquarium, the 4.30 mm-thick walls appear to be only 3.10 mm thick. What is the index of refraction of the walls? Homework Equations m=-s'/s n_1/s + n_2 / s' = (n_2-n_1)/R m: magnification s: object distance s': image distance The Attempt at a...

“mirage” is refraction phenomenon or total internal reflection phenomenon? “mirage” is refraction phenomenon or total internal reflection phenomenon?

Homework Statement A pair of students measure the refraction of light in passing from acetone into air for several angles. When the angle of incidence is 30, the angle of refraction is 42. (a) What is the index of refraction n of the acetone? Homework Equations n=c/v The...

Homework Statement A pair of students measure the refraction of light in passing from acetone into air for several angles. When the angle of incidence is 30, the angle of refraction is 42. (a) What is the index of refraction n of the acetone? Homework Equations n=c/v The...

I wish to understand why the speed of light slows down when it enters a medium such as glass or air. Is this best understood by treating light as a stream of particles or a wave? I have read that the speed of light (c) is a result of disturbance of the electromagnetic field. In contrast...

Is it possible for the critical angle to exist when light goes from water (n=1.33) into glass (n=1.5)? I solved this using snell's law. and my answer is no.. because glass has greater refraction index than water. And when you use snell's law and solve for the critical angle, there will be no...

I'm new to the forum, so, hi =D Special theory of relativity tell us that the speed of light is the same, independently of the reference frame. But we know that, while light travels through some materials (with refraction index larger than one), it speeds slows down. These two "things"...

Is it possible for the critical angle to exist when light goes from water (n=1.33) into glass (n=1.5)? My used the formula sin(critical angle) = n1/n2. I'm a bit confused, should the numerator(n1) always be less dense compared to the denominator(n2).

If the transparent material has an index of refraction of 1.2, what is the angle of incidence beyond which total internal reflection occurs?

Light strikes the surface of a transparent material at an angle of incidence of 30. If the refracted angle in the transparent material is 20, what is the speed of light in the material? Is it possible to solve this problem without their index of refraction? If possible, how?

Homework Statement 5) A beam of monochromatic light enters an equilateral triangular prism at an angle of incidence of 30.0º. If the index of refraction of the prism is 1.53, at what angle with respect to the surface of the prism does the beam emerge from the other side of the prism...

Homework Statement Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution I was kind of confuse with the use of refractive index. For the first part of question, n1 = 1.00 and n2 = 1.50. From what I know, the object is at vacuum so the n1 = 1.00. But why for the second part of the...

Homework Statement A helium-neon laser beam has a wavelength in air of 633 nm. It takes 1.38 ns for the light to travel through 30 cm of an unknown liquid. What is the wavelength of the laser beam in the liquid?Homework Equations n=c/v d=rtThe Attempt at a Solution So, I'm having difficulty...

Homework Statement A beam of light in air makes an incident angle with the normal at 53 with an unknown substance. Part of the light is relected and part is refracted into the substance. The reflected ray and the refracted ray make an angle of 90 degrees. a) What is the refracted angle...

I understand that refraction is a bending of light that occurs when light passes between two mediums with different optical density. Because the light is represented as a wave-front, one side of the wave-front hits the medium first and slows down (or speeds up) first, which causes the wave to...

Homework Statement The original problem: A plane mirror is placed horizontally at the bottom of a transparent liquid of 10 cm depth. When one looks at the image of a small object floating at the surface of the liquid right above the object, the image is seen at 14 cm below the surface of...