Snell's law Definition and 142 Threads

In a linear birefringent crystal, if light enters parallel to a face that has been cut so that it is at an angle to the optical axis, the o-ray continues parallel to the face but the e-ray travels at an angle to the face in violation of Snell's Law. Question --- Is there any explanation for...

I am having difficulty accepting an illustration from a physics textbook. The illustration is attached. For part (b), the authors state that hec is a right triangle. Also, the wavefront (cg) is clearly not parallel to the wavefront (he). However, isn't this impossible? If point (c) on the...

Homework Statement Hi, I am currently working on science fair physics project which involves measuring speeds of light passing through several substances using a green laser. (please note, I am in 8th grade and have not studied trigonomtry.) We already have our angles on graph paper with a...

A costume jewelry pendant made of cubic zirconia is submerged in oil. A light ray enters one face of the zirconia crystal, then travels at an angle of 25 degrees with respect to the normal. What was the ray's angle of incidence on the crystal? Relevant equations: n1 sin(θ1) = n2...

Homework Statement A fish in a flat-sided aquarium sees a can of fish food on the counter. To the fish's eye, the can looks to be 49 cm outside the aquarium. What is the actual distance between the can and the aquarium? (You can ignore the thin glass wall of the aquarium.) Homework...

Homework Statement Consider a solid glass rod of length 75cm and diameter 1.5cm with n=1.46. Light enters the center of the end of the rod from the air. What is the maximum angle of incidence for which the light is totally reflected inside the rod? Homework Equations n1 sin (A1) = n2...

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. b) What is the angle of incidence (in degrees) when the refracted angle is the critical angle? Homework...

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...

If I was doing a practical on refraction, and I was using Snell's Law, what would the Aim be. Also remember that, the aim can't be to prove Snell's Law. Thanks everyone. (please hurry this assignment is due tomorrow)

Snell's Law -- figuring out index of refraction Homework Statement A light ray enters a rectangular block of plastic at an angle of θ1 = 45.0° and emerges at an angle of θ2 = 79.0°, as shown in Figure P35.71. (the image is of light entering the block from the west, and exiting from the...

Homework Statement The critical angle of a certain plastic in air is 37.3 degrees. Wats the critical angle of the same plastic if its immersed in water? Homework Equations n1sin( theta)= n2sin(theta) The Attempt at a Solution Nair= 1.00 1.00sin37.3/1.33 = sin(theta) sin(theta)=...

Homework Statement The figure (http://i43.tinypic.com/2dt5e2e.jpg") shows a ray of light traveling through a gas (n = 1.00), a solid (n = 1.84), and a liquid (n = 1.61). What is the angle θ made by the ray as it enters the liquid? Homework Equations (n1)(sin θ1)=(n2)(sin θ2)The Attempt at a...

Homework Statement One method of determining the refractive index of a transparaent solid is to measure the critical angle when the solid is in air. It Ac is found to be 40.5 degrees, what is the index of refraction of the solid? Homework Equations nsinA=nsinA The Attempt at a...

Ok, I'm decided to post this here just because after searching for refraction of light, I see a lot of posts in this category. Currently in my Physics class, we're working on the theory of light in the book, Newton to Einstein the trail of light. After covering refraction and snell's law to...

Not really a homework question, but I don't understand the concept. How do I know when the light bends upward or downward? How do I know qualitatively how much the red and violet lights disperse apart? I know it has something to do with Snell's law, but I can't seem to get the necessary...

Homework Statement Calculate the angle of incidence for an angle of refraction of 10° for a) Diamond (2.42) to air θ2=Angle of refraction=10° n2=Index of refraction on refractive medium=1 n1=index of refraction on incident medium=2.42 θ1=? Homework Equations n1sinθ1=n2sinθ2...

refractive index... snell's law... help! Hi, im having a LOT of trouble with what seems like a basic question. i have been stressing over this for nearly 3 hours now. can anyone help me out? here it is: Light propagating from water into air is incident on the water surface at the angle of...

Hi I wasn't sure of where to post, since well, I'm an adult, and math/physics weren't a big part of my curriculum, and yet, years later, i thought that continuing to have severe holes in my understanding of math and physics wasn't beneficial, even if i didn't had any direct applications to...

Homework Statement A fish is 30 cm below the surface of a lake. If he looks up he can see the entire sky compressed in a cone of angle θ, because of refraction of light at the water surface. (θ is the angle between the cone axis and the cone surface.) Determine θ. Homework Equations...

Is there a way to express Snell's Law using cosines of the angles of incidence instead of the sines without the cosines being squared? If no one here knows, is there anywhere I could look into this question?

The light beam shown in Figure P22.21 makes an angle of ϕ = 23.5° with the normal line NN' in the linseed oil. Determine the angles θ and θ'. (The refractive index for linseed oil is 1.48.) The normal line makes a 90 angle with the surface of the linseed oil. The light then passes through...

Hi, While reading about Fermat's principle, and how to use it to derive Snell's law, I came across something I can't find any information about... I had heard about Fermat's principle before; that it said that the path taken by a lightbeam is the path that takes the least time. Now...

Hi From what physical concept is Snell's law derived?

Homework Statement In searching the bottom of a pool at night, a watchman shines a narrow beam of light from his flashlight, h = 1.6 m above the water level, onto the surface of the water at a point L = 3.0 m from his foot at the edge of the pool (Fig. 23-52). Where does the spot of light hit...

hello everyone Consider extinction coefficient k, n becomes N=n-ik. the textbook says NsinA=N'sinB still holds itself. But the sinB,for exmple, may be a complex number, i want to know how to get B? how to understand this situation, which is the refractive angle? the B's real part?

Snell's Law and Light! 1. Use Snell's Law to show that a light ray which enters glass plane of wfinite width does not change direction when it exits the plate. 2. sin(theta in)/sin(theta refracted)= n2/n1 3. I know that if lamda in medium 1 does not equal lamda in medium 2, the...

Violation of Snell's Law?? Let's pass a beam of photon with low intensity towards a smooth surface. If the beam has infinitesimal thickness and passes through the gap of atoms, does it follow Snell's Law? What are the restriction and limitation of Snell's Law? your answer will be appreciated.

Snell's law[SOLVED] 1. A ray of light travels from air(which is given to be 1.0003 I also had it be N1) into a liquid. The ray is incident upon the liquid(n2) at an angle of 30 degrees. The angle of refraction is 22 degrees. Indices of Refraction. Medium. . . .N Vacuum...1.00 Air.. . . ...

Homework Statement In this drawing: http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/6559/physgv8.png Index of refraction for glass: 1.52 Index of refraction for surrounding carbon disulfide: 1.63 Incident angle at point A: 43.0° At what angle does the ray leave the glass at point B? Homework Equations...

I have been asked to "state snells law" I know the equation is sin i / sin r = n2/n1 And I know how to use it... But is there a written law for this that I'm missing? (As in Newtons third law of motion states that...?)

Okay, so I've tried doing some research about Snell's Law, and I haven't been able to find information that I actually understand. Could someone explain this to me in terms that will help me?

Ever since I took GR I have always been interested in how snell's law changes, if it changes at all, in curved spacetime. The index of refraction depends on the optical density of the medium and this would be observer dependent? am i right on that? i would love to see a paper or other online...

1. Depth of a lake is 1637m. If a beam of light with an angle of incidence of 60.0º enters the water from the air, what is the horizontal distance between the point where the light enters the water and the point where it strikes the lake's bottom? 2. Snell's Law: ni(sin Өi) = nr(sin Өr)...

Homework Statement A man, height h, can see a mirage at angles less than a known angle \theta to the horizontal. The refractive index of air is at ground level is known. Find the refractive index of air at height h. Homework Equations Snell's law: n1 sin(\theta 1)=n2 sin(\theta2) where...

Snell's Law HELP! TEST TOMMOROW! Homework Statement Hi, I have a problem with Snell's Law...i understand that it is: n1(sin)theta1 = n2(sin)theta2 but for the test, we need to know how to manipulate the problem to find the angle of refraction...i will have a calculator to plug thing in...

I have a question concerning this question: Predict what will happen as the incident angle approaches 90 degress, and develop a method to test the prediction. I say the refraction angle would also be 90 degrees (remaining a horizontal line), so my method would be to align the laser I'm...

I've gotten stuck on the following problem: The drawing shows a rectangular block of glass (n = 1.52) surrounded by liquid carbon disulfide (n = 1.63). A ray of light is incident on the glass at point A with a = 34.0° angle of incidence. At what angle of refraction does the ray leave the...

I am having A LOT of trouble figuring this one out. . .Some please help.. ok here it goes- So there is a beam of light (with and angle of incidence of 29.9 degrees) and so using snell's law I calculated that the angle of refraction is 21.95 degrees (using n1 as air and n2 as water). The ray...

Can anyone help me with these questions? They are due @ 10 p.m. tonight, thank-you. 1) A ray of light enters the top of a glass of water at an angle of 37° with the vertical. What is the angle between the refracted ray and the vertical? At first I thought I could just do 90-37, but that...

Ok so now our class is onto snell's law... We did a few experiments where light refracts when it is passing into a new medium... In an experiment today we were trying to find the total internal refraction, and my friend shined the light at an angle and we observed a spectrum... ? but it...

what is the snell's law? and how to show this n = sin(i)/sin(r) (where n = refractive index i = angle of incident r = angle of refraction ) ?? thank you!

Hello everyone, I am reviewing for a test tomorrow, and I seem to have come across what would seem like an easy problem, but its answer has eluded me for the time being. I am hoping you guys can help. Horizontal rays of red light (660nm in a vacuum) and violet light (410nm in a vacuum)...