Refraction of light.

 Refraction is the
bending of light as it
passes from one
medium to another.
 If light travels from air to
glass, the incident ray is
refracted towards the
normal.
 Light will always be
refracted towards the
denser medium.
Air
 If the incident ray enters
the medium at right Glass
angles, refraction does Glass

not occur.
 As the angle of incidence
increases, so too does
the angle of refraction.
The Laws of Refraction
 The incident ray, the
normal and the refracted
ray all lie in the same
plane.
 The ratio of of the sine of
the angle of incidence to
the sine of the angle of
refraction is a constant.
Sin i = n ( a constant)
Sin r
 Medium n

Snell’s Law Vacuum 1

Air 1.0003
 The refractive index of a
medium is the ratio of the Water 1.33
sine of the angle of
incidence to the sine of Glass 1.5
the angle of refraction
For any two media x
when light travels from a
and y
vacuum into that
xny = 1
medium.
ynx
sin i = n
sin r
Effects of refraction

 Because of refraction,
the depth of water in
a pool or river will
appear less.
 Refraction will also
cause an object
placed in water to
appear bent to an
observer.
Real depth and apparent depth.
 Refraction causes the
true depth of a body of
water to appear shallower
than it actually is.
 Light leaving a point from
below is refracted at the
surface of the water.
 To an observer this light Refractive index n = real depth
will appear to have come apparent depth
from a point nearer to the
surface.
The speed of light.
1n2 = c1
c2
 In a vacuum, light travels
at a speed of 3 x 108 m/s.
Sin i = c1
 Refraction occurs
because light changes Sin r c2
speed as it travels from
one medium to another.
 The slower the speed of For any medium x,
light in a medium, the
greater the refractive nx = cair
index of that medium. cx