Light- Rarefraction and Snell's law
How do you measure the amount of bending of light when refracted?
angle is measured from the normal line to where the light is going in or out, tame for mirrors
Refraction
bending of light wave as it passes two mediums
where does the bending occur
At the boundary between the media
What angles does refraction work for?
all angles other than 90 degrees (perpendicular to surface)
What does a 90-degree angle to the surface do to the boundary?
It doesn't change boundaries
What angle does the incident angle come in at?
The incident angle
What angle does the refracted ray come in at?
The refracted angle
Why does light bend?
because it's speed and wavelength changes (the freq isn't effected and is always constant)
What does each medium have?
An index of refraction
What does the Index of Refraction of each medium determine?
how much light will bend when it encounters the medium
What is the index of refraction determined by?
The speed of light in vacume divided by the speed of light in the medium
Speed of light in a vacuum?
always faster than the speed of light in a medium and is always more than zero
Another equation for the speed of light?
n=C/Vn
What is Snell's law used for?
used to determine how much bending will occur at a boundary between two mediums
Snell's law equation
Index of incidence (Sine of the angle of incidence)=Index of refraction (Sine of the Angle of refraction)
What is total internal reflection?
The incident angle creates an angle of refraction equal to 90 degrees.
What happens to the incident angle during internal reflection?
The incident angle turns into the critical angle.
Real-life example of Internal reflection
Binoculars
What does light travel through when refracting?
medium with a low index to a medium with a high index (Ex. Water to air)
Critical angle equation
Index of the critical ange (Sine of the critical angle)=the index of refration
What is 1Sin90 equal to?
1
Dispersion
reflected light is "spread out" in a rainbow of colors
What does the index of refraction vary with?
refraction varies slightly with the freq of light; the higher the freq-higher the index of refraction
What are rainbows created by?
dispersion of light as it refracts in a rain drop