Prepared by:

Cajan, Oliver B.
A DETAILED REFRACTION
OF LIGHT
LESSON PLAN IN
OPTICS

I. OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, students are expected to:

1. Explain the cause of changes on the direction

light as it travels from one medium to another.
2. Distinguish the law that determines the path of
light as it passes through mediums.
3. State each laws of refraction
4. Solve for the index of refraction and speed of light
of different substances.
5. Cite sample results of refraction of light that can
be observe in daily life.

II. SUBJECT MATTER

A. Topic: Refraction of light
B. References: University of Virginia Physics Department Phys 6251, Spring
2009
C. Instructional Materials:
a. Simple experiment- Refraction in Bottle
b. Power Point Presentation
c. Illustrations
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III. METHODOLOGY

Teacher’s Activity Students’ Activity

A. Daily Routine

1. Opening Prayer
2. Checking of Attendance

B. Motivation

The teacher will provide simple

experiment that will show the changes
in the direction of light rays.
A plastic bottle filled with water will
be prepare by the students and sticky
notes with an illustration of two arrows
at opposite direction then, attach it in
a blank wall. The upper arrow should
be at right direction while the lower
arrow at left direction.

Then let the plastic bottle place at the

front of the stick note then move it.

Students will observe what happen to the

direction of the alternating arrows.
Let the plastic bottle be moved by the
students and compare the original
direction of the arrow and the arrows
at the experiment.

Students should compare the directions of

the arrows.
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C. Lesson Proper

What have you observed on the

direction of the arrow upon moving the
bottles in front of the sticky notes?

The alternating arrows change the

direction compared to its original
direction.
And what phenomena is concern with
the changes in the direction of
alternating arrows? The change in the direction is cause by
the refraction of light.

Speaking of refraction, we learned that

light bends as it passes from one
medium to another.
In the simple experiment we have,
what are the medium involve where
light passes? The medium where light passes are air,
water and plastic bottle.
(The teacher will make an illustration
base from the activity)

As the light passes through the

substances, it becomes concentrate to
the focal point. After light passes
through the focal point it cross over to
each other causes the arrows to be
reversed to the original direction.
The first law of refraction can be
illustrated in this experiment which
states that, the incident ray, the
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refracted ray and the normal line lie
in one plane.

The bending of light or the difference

between the angle of incidence and
angle of refraction is due to the optical
density of the medium. Can anyone
have an idea about optical density?

Optical density refers to the

This optical density measures how transparency of the substance to light.
much light will bend after passing into
the substance or how much the change
in speed will be.
This optical density connotes the
second law of refraction. Can anyone
have an idea on the second law of
refraction?

The second law states that when a ray

of light passes obliquely from an
optically denser to less dense medium,
it is refracted away from the normal.
When a ray of light passes obliquely
form an optically less dense medium to
denser medium, it is refracted towards
the normal. At perpendicular
Why do you think light refracts away incidence, no bending of light occurs.
from the normal when it passes from
denser to less dense medium?
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 Light travels faster in a less dense
Why it refracts towards the normal medium.
when it travels from less dense to
denser medium?

Because it travels slower in a denser

And why do you think no refraction medium.
occurs when light incident
perpendicular?
It will only pass through the medium
(The teacher will show an illustration similar to law of reflection.
demonstrating the second law of
refraction)

From the law of reflection, we learned

that we see things because of the
reflection of light around us. Let us say
that sun gives off light rays between
from air to water then it will bend
towards the normal since water is
denser than air, light will incident
again to the fish. To be able to see the
fish the light will reflect again from
water to air and it will reflect away
from the normal since air is less dense
than water.
Because of refraction of light, there is a
change in the speed of light and the
actual position of fish is different from
one sense of sight. What can you
conclude in the apparent position of
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the fish compared to the actual
position of the fish. The fish appears shallower from sight
compare to its actual position.
This change in the speed of light and
depth constitutes to what so called
index of refraction. Can anyone state
what is index of refraction? It is the ratio on the speed of light in a
vacuum to the speed of light in a
medium.
𝑐
n=𝑣
A substance is said to be optically
denser than another if its index of
refraction is greater. Therefore, what
can you conclude to the relationship
between index of refraction and speed
of light on a medium.
The higher the index of refraction the
slower that light travels in that
substance.
(The teacher will show the table of
refractive index)

We can also determine the index of

refraction with the ratio of the real
depth of the object and apparent depth
of the object.
𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑡ℎ
n=𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑡ℎ

(The teacher will provide sample

problems)
We already learned that as light passes
from ne medium to another it may
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either refracts away or towards the
normal line depending on the optical
density of the medium.

The third law states that nsinӨi = nsinӨr

referred to as Snell’s Law.

What will happen if the refracted ray

is refracted away from the normal?
The angle of incidence is relatively
smaller than the angle of refraction.
What will happen if the refracted ray
is towards the normal?
The angle of incidence is relatively
larger than the angle of refraction.
(Sample problem will be given by the
teacher)

D. Generalization

How does a refraction of light occur?

The refraction of light occurs when light
passes from one medium to another with
different optical density.

And what do we mean by optical

density?
It refers to the transparency of substance to
light.
Can anyone state the first law of
refraction based from the image?
The incident ray, refracted ray and
normal line lie in one plane.
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How about the second law?
What do we mean by index of
refraction?
What does the third law states?
E. Valuing
A lot of phenomena that are results of
refraction can be observe in daily life. Like
the formation of halos around the moon
and sun, stellar scintillation, mirage and
longer daytime.
The second law states that when a ray of
light passes obliquely from an optically
denser to less dense medium, it is refracted
away from the normal. When a ray of light
passes obliquely form an optically less
dense medium to denser medium, it is
refracted towards the normal. At
perpendicular incidence, no bending of
light occurs.
It is the ratio of the speed of light in a
vacuum and speed of light in a substance
or the ratio between the real depth and
apparent depth of an object.
The third law states that nsinӨi = nsinӨr
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IV. EVALUATION

Teacher’s Activity Students’ Activity

Solve for the following problems. Write

the given, problem and solution.

1. A coin resting on the bottom of a

container filled with water
(n=1.33) appears to be 20.5 m
deep. What is the real depth of the
coin?
2. Calculate the index of refraction
of ice and water if the speed of
light in each is 2.29x108 m and
2.26x108 m. Which medium is
optically denser?
3. A zirconium plate (n=1.22) has a
thickness of 3.0 x 10-3m. find the
speed of light in zirconium and
the time it takes light to pass
perpendicularly to the plate?
4. Calculate the speed of light in a
sodium chloride (n=1.54).
5. A ray of light travels from air to
liquid at an angle of incidence of
30 degrees, if it is deviated by 10
degrees, what is the speed of light
in the liquid?
6. A light passes perpendicularly
through a transparent rectangular
prism with a length, width, height
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 of 6.0 cm, 3.0cm and 8. cm,
respectively and a surface area of
0.018 m2. If light takes 1.50 x 10-
11sec, what is the index of
refraction of the substance?

V. ASSIGNMENT

As you learned about the refraction of light, briefly describe/explain the

phenomena given below.

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