Question

S ray of light is incident at an angle of 60° on a block of glass of refractive index. Determine the angle of refraction of the ray

Answer 1

To determine the angle of refraction of the ray, we can use Snell's Law, which states:

n1 * sin(theta1) = n2 * sin(theta2)

Where:
n1 = refractive index of the first medium (air) = 1
n2 = refractive index of the second medium (glass)
theta1 = angle of incidence = 60°
theta2 = angle of refraction (what we want to find)

Since n1 = 1 and theta1 = 60°, we can rewrite Snell's Law as:

sin(60°) = n2 * sin(theta2)

Using the identity sin(60°) = sqrt(3)/2, we have:

sqrt(3)/2 = n2 * sin(theta2)

Since n2 is the refractive index of glass (let's assume it's 1.5 for this example), we have:

sqrt(3)/2 = 1.5 * sin(theta2)

Dividing by 1.5, we get:

sqrt(3)/(2 * 1.5) = sin(theta2)
sqrt(3)/3 = sin(theta2)

Now, taking the arcsin of both sides to find theta2:

theta2 = arcsin(sqrt(3)/3)
theta2 ≈ 35.26°

Therefore, the angle of refraction of the ray is approximately 35.26°.