Determination of the Refractive Index

Aim: To determine the refractive index of the given samples by AOCS methods.

Apparatus: - Refractometer - Abbe Refractometer, pipette, tissue papers. Definition: - The ratio of velocity of light in vaccum to the velocity of light in the oil or fat; more generally, it expressed as the ratio between the sine of angle of incidence to the sine of angle of refraction when a ray of light of known wavelength (usually 589.3 nm,) passes from air into the oil or fat. Refractive index varies with temperature and wavelength.

Procedure: 1. The Refractometer is often stored with a piece of tissue in the prism assembly to keep the prism glass from being scratched. Open the prism assembly and remove the tissue. 2. Use a pipet to apply your liquid sample to the prism (melt the sample if it is not already liquid, remove all impurities including moisture), Add enough sample to achieve a thin film across the whole prism, typically 3 to 4 drops. 3. Close prisms firmly by tightening screw heads, Let instrument stand for few minutes before taking reading so that the temperature of test sample and instrument are the same. 4. Adjust the Refractometer so the light shines on the prism through the reflecting mirror and look through the eyepiece. 5. If you are close to the index of refraction of your sample you should see that the view in the eyepiece shows a dark region on the bottom and a lighter region on the top. If you do not see a light and a dark region, adjust the handwheel on the right side of the instrument until you do. 6. Once you have a crisp demarcation between the light and dark regions, use the handwheel on the right hand side to place this borderline exactly on the center of the crosshairs. 7. Now look through the other eyepiece, it will have two scales, the upper scale indicates the index of refraction. By carefully interpolating you should get 4 decimal place accuracy. 8. Clean the Refractometers prism surface by using isopropyl alcohol or toluene.

Result: - The refractive index of the given sample is - ___________

Calculations:Temperature correction Determine refractive index at the specified temperature. If temperature correction is necessary use following formula:

R = R1 + K1 (T1 T) Where,
R = Reading of the Refractometer reduced to the specified temperature TC R1= Reading at T1 K = constant 0.000365 for fats and 0.000385 for oils T1= temperature at which the reading R1 is taken and T = specified temperature (generally 40C.)

Observations:-

SAMPLE

Reading from scale 1

Reading from scale 2

Final R.I value