Refraction Definition and 751 Threads

Homework Statement I made a graph in Excel which graphs (1/x^2) vs (1/cos^2 (angle of incidence)). From the graph I am supposed to analyze the slope and intercept of the straight line. I made a trendline which came out to be y=mx + b = (-0.0084)x + 5.54. From this equation I'm supposed to...

i want to delete the post ..

1. A particular fish tank filled with fresh water (n = 1.33) has a coral reef sticker stuck to the exterior wall outside the fish tank. The tank's walls are 2 cm thick, but a goldfish inside the tank sees the sticker 0.6 cm away from the water-wall interface. What is the index of refraction of...

Refraction is supposed to take place because there is a difference in the speed of light between the two (or more) media. Why doesn't the light continue in the same direction as before but slower (or faster) ? Thanks, Ishan

When one calculate the real part of the index of refraction for a specific multilevel atom one would use the following formula: Re(n(\Delta))=1+\frac{N e^2}{8\pi \epsilon_0 m\omega} \sum_i \frac{\Delta_i}{\Delta_i^2+(\gamma/2)^2}K_i Where K_i is the C-G coefficient. My question is as...

Homework Statement In the attachment below, a ray of light undergoes total internal reflection in an optical fiber such that the angle θ between the ray and the interface is 47°. Assuming the fiber is surrounded by air, what is the minimum index of refraction necessary for this to occur...

I'm guessing it has to do with electron excitation, and the release of EM waves when the electrons fall back to their ground state, but I am want to learn more about this in detail. I've barely covered Maxwell's Equations and optics in a lower division general physics course, so there's a whole...

Xray in any matter have a slightly below one refraction index. Ultraviolet still have materials with above 1 refraction index. Where in the spectrum between them does >1 index cease to be possible, and what is the nature of this threshold?

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/9712/refractionk.jpg Now my understanding is that water slows down when it goes over a shallow area because the ground under the shallow water is interfering with the wave. When this happens the wave becomes more transverse which I guess is due to reflection as...

refraction -- when can you see past the label? Homework Statement as shown in the figure. Homework Equations n1sin1 = n2sin2 n1 and n2 represent the refractive indices of media 1 and 2 respectively The Attempt at a Solution Critical angle for glass-air interface = arcsin(1/1.5) =...

I have my introductory physics students determine the index of refraction of various solids using fairly conventional methods (lining up pins or determining critical angle). I think this experiment would be more interesting if I could vary it more. I would like to find a substance with the...

Hi, I was trying the following question; 'A child of height 90 cm is standing at the edge of a 1.2m deep swimming pool. She looks into the water and sees a brick lying on the bottom of the pool. From the child's perspective, the brick appears to be 2.0m horizontally away from the side of...

I wonder if someone could help with me with this. I understand Snells Law and I can also work out various refractions in different media by using C. But “why” does refraction occur. Every website I look at (inc Wiki) gives the results of refraction (e.g. Snell’) not the reason. They will...

Hi, my current research is to determine the thickness and the index of refraction of semiconductor materials.. using reflectivity.. my adviser gave me the results of the sample by GRAPHS the reflectance percentage vs. the wavelength.. i know that i can measure the index of refraction.. if i...

Hey all, I'm trying to solve a problem in which I have a uniaxial (uniform in two directions, different in the other) crystal with the optical axis normal to the plane of reflection. I call the permittivity parallel to the optical axis ε_par and the permittivity in the other two directions...

Homework Statement I've preformed an experiment where in a ripple tank I had to count the number of waves and length of as long a train of waves as possible, so that I can calculate the wavelength. A stroboscopic light was used and I had to count the number of bright patches/shadows of the...

Refraction Problem:Distance Coin Appears to be in Glass Sphere Homework Statement A solid glass sphere with a radius of 5.00 cm and index of refraction of 1.52 has a small coin embedded 3.00 cm from the front surface of the sphere. For the viewer looking at the coin through the glass, at...

Homework Statement A small underwater pool light is 1 meter below the surface of a swimming pool. What is the radius of the circle of light on the surface, from which light emerges from the water? Homework Equations Snell's Law Fermat's PrincipleThe Attempt at a SolutionI have no idea about how...

Refraction -- A light ray is incedent on a block of glass at an angle of 30 degrees Homework Statement A light ray is incedent on a block of glass at an angle of 30 degrees,what is the angle of refraction. Given: glass: 1.47 incident angle:30° Homework Equations π1 sin θ1 = π2 sin...

In electricity and magnetism, we typically assume that the relative permittivity (or dielectric constant) ε of air is equal to the "permittivity of free space" ε0, and likewise we assume that air has a relative permeability μ equal to the "permeability of free space" μ0. This is equivalent to...

Can the group refractive index ng be 1>ng>0 ?

While playing around with some laser diodes I have at home ~(405, 550, 650 nm) I have noticed that the refracted angles through some mediums (all?) is different. That is, if I fire my 405nm laser through some water at \theta_{1}=80°, the angle of refraction is ~\theta_{2}=47.01±0.05°. Now...

I'm going through the Light & Optics chapter of Kaplan MCAT prep material & am having a hard time conceptually understanding the relationship between index of refraction & wavelength or with frequency. It says in the book that n = c/v, & "when the speed of the light wave varies with...

Homework Statement A thick-walled wine goblet sitting on a table can be considered to be a hollow glass sphere with an outer radius of 4.00 cm and an inner radius of 3.40 cm. The index of refraction of the goblet glass is 1.50. A) A beam of parallel light rays enters the side of the empty...

Hi Folks, After a general search online, I have not yet found a simple description of refraction in a medium with an inhomogeneous refractive index. For example: if we have a block of glass with a beam of light shining through it, and the block has a gradient in the real part of the...

I'm very curious as to what actually causes light to bend when it encounters a medium with a different refractive index. Of course the speed of light changes, and this speed change is accompanied by a corresponding wavelength change so that the frequency remains the same and there is no...

Homework Statement A horizontal beam of light enters a 45-90-45 prism at the center of it's long side, as shown below. The emerging ray moves in a direction that is 34˚ below the horizontal. What is the index of refraction for the prism? Homework Equations n_{1}sinø_{1} =...

Homework Statement At a wavelength of 400nm, the semiconductor ZnSe has a complex refractive index n= 3.0+0.32i A) If 400nm is incidient from air onto ZnSe with θ=tan-1(NR) = 71.6°, What is the refraction angle of the transmitted wave? B) Calculate the magnitude R and phase shift ψ...

im having difficulty understanding how light leaves a prism mainly because I am not sure about what angles we are talking about when we say angle of refraction/incidence. Lets say for example light hits a triangular prism leg at a 90 degree angle (incidence = 90 deg?) and the prism has index of...

Homework Statement A beam of light in air is incident on a stack of 4 flat transparent materials with indicies of refraction 1.20, 1.40, 1.32, and 1.28. If the angle of incidence for the beam on the first of the four materials is 60*, what angle does the beam make witht the normal when it...

Homework Statement A 45,45,90 glass triangular prism (n=1.52) is surrounded by air. If a light ray comes into one of the legs (not hypotenuse) at a right angle which legs have total internal reflection?Homework Equations n_1sinx_i=n_2sinx_r The Attempt at a Solution i figured out that the...

Homework Statement A 2 meter deep swimming pool is filled with water. A mirror is placed at the bottom and a small fish swims 5 cm (0.05m) below the surface. If you look at the swimming pool from above, how deep does the fish appear to be (a), and how deep does it's image appear to be (b)...

When light or any other electromagnetic wave enters from one medium to another, there is a change in its speed. Speed of a wave is given as v = frequency x wavelength. My question is, what does change, frequency, wavelength or both? If you say... this change in speed is generally attributed...

This is a follow-up of the following thread on refraction: https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=576212&highlight=photon In a nutshell, an optical photon that traverses a solid dielectric extends over many atoms. While the photon traverses the dielectric, it continuously transmits...

please let me know what is the nature of force that bends the path of photon during refraction.

Homework Statement (Refraction) A parallel beam of width W is incident on a interface. The index of refractions are n1 on the incident side and n2 on the transmitted side. (a) Find an equation that gives the width of the transmitted beam. (Assume there is an exit beam. IE we are not...

Please see attached. I tried drawing ray diagrams but I don't know how to see the answer intuitively. It seems that there is a relatively simple qualitative proof. Also the angle of incidence is unclear and I think that the direction of the shift depends on this angle. Thanks!

An object is placed 11 cm from a certain mirror. The image is half the height of the object, inverted, and real. 1/p+1/i=1/f ? Clueless because I don't know how to set up the equation int his kind of situation.

Homework Statement Plot a graph of sinθ versus sinθ' where θ is the incident ray and θ' is the refracted ray and use the graph to determine the index of refraction of distilled water, the medium through which the incident ray passes. Draw the graph without including the origin as a data...

Had this question in a test today, :). Homework Statement Carbon tetrachloride (n = 1.46) is poured into a container made of crown glass (n = 1.52). What's the speed of light in the liquad? Homework Equations v=c/n The Attempt at a Solution I just multiplied 1.46 by the...

Homework Statement Can partial reflection-partial refraction occur with all waves (ie. other than light)? Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution My textbook constantly refers to light and apparently so does Google. "For still larger incident angles there is no...

Snell's law can be derived by applying boundary conditions to Maxwell's equations. Thus the o-ray's behavior has a formal theory that tells how and why it behaves as it does. Is there any formal theory that covers the behavior of the e-ray (not obeying Snell's law)?

Homework Statement Monochromatic light of variable wavelength is incident normally on a thin sheet of plastic film in air. The reflected light is a maximum only for 482.9 and 676.0 in the visible spectrum. What is the minimum thickness of the film ? Homework Equations 2nt=m*lambda...

Hi All, this is puzzling me; we have a real part of the refractive index that governs refraction, ie. scattering, and we have an imaginary part, which describes the absorption of the light. The two are related, as you would expect, and a mathematical relationship exists between the two. The...

Homework Statement What is the thinnest soap film (excluding the case of zero thickness) that appears black when illuminated with light with a wavelength of 520 ? The index of refraction of the film is 1.34, and there is air on both sides of the film. Homework Equations Im wondering do I...

Homework Statement A beam of light falls perpendicularly on the surface of a triangular prism. Draw the beams path through the prism. Show any necessary calculations. n = 1.5 Homework Equations n1sin(a) = n2sin(b) maybe, not sure tbh. The Attempt at a Solution This is what I...

Hi, I am learning about refraction and the million ways in which Snell's Law is presented to me is making me confused... So, I understand that: sin i / sin r, will give me the ratio of speeds ci/cr and λi/λr However, I can't understand this form of: n1sin i = n2 sin r How does...

Homework Statement Sunlight strikes a piece of crown glass at an angle of incidence of 36.7 degrees. Calculate the difference in the angle of refraction between a orange (610. nm) and a violet (410. nm) ray within the glass. The indices of refraction for the orange and the violet are n = 1.522...

I'm not asking for what reflection and refraction are or the usual law governing it, but I would like to understand what they represent at the quantum atomic, molecular level? In a mirror is it about photons absorbed and emitted with the same wavelength and same direction through atomic electron...

Hi. In the textsbook i raed for frequencies that (real part of index refraction) |n|~1>>|K| (exitinction coefficient), we have transparent matter (weak absorbtion). If we have a bulk matter with big diameter, that there are no transmitted light ( i don't know it is possible or not), our matter...