Refractive index
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The document discusses refractive index, Snell's law, and total internal reflection as they relate to how light travels through different mediums. Refractive index is a measure of how much light slows down when moving between mediums. Snell's law describes how light bends when moving between mediums of different densities. Total internal reflection occurs when light hits the boundary between two mediums at an angle greater than the critical angle, causing it to be fully reflected rather than refracted.
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Refractive index
- 1. Refractive Index This is a measure of how much light slows down when it goes into a new medium. Symbol n n (vacuum) = 1 n (medium) = c (speed of light in vacuum) v (speed of light in medium)
- 3. Try these:
- 4. Snell’s Law When a light ray travels into a denser medium, it slows down and bends towards the nornal. When it moves into a less dense medium, it speeds up and bends away from the normal.
- 5. Snell’s Law
- 6. Try these: Careful – this time, the ray travels from water into amber, so n1 is not 1, it is 1.33.
- 7. The Critical angle When a ray comes out of glass into air, it will bend away from the normal. The critical angle is the angle it hits the glass edge to refract exactly at 90 degrees. It is different for different mediums n1 n2
- 9. Optical fibers The light ray is reflected all the way along the fiber by total internal reflection Critical Angle: 1.46 1.48