Week 13 Lab: Snell's Law

Background:

When light travel s between two different medium, the velocity and wavelength changes. The
result is the "bending" of the light. The "bending" of light is referred to as retraction. The
"bending" follows a convenient mathematical relationship called Snell's law, named after Dutch
astronomer Willebrord Snellius (1580-1626).

Law of Reflection:
renoc1o,,1r:.i.y
I/ICldC,,1MY

A reflected ray lies in the plane of incidence and has an

angle of reflection equal to the angle of incidence
(both relative to th e normal). 8 1 "' 8 1

Law of Refraction

A refracted ray lies in the plane of incidence and has an ;rngle

1,e•r~ed,.,,y
of refraction 81 that is related to the angle of incidence 9 1 by:

where n1 is the refract ive index of medium 1, 8 1 is the incident angle, n 2 is the refractive index
of medium 2 and 8 1 is the refraction angle. This equa ti on is known as Snell's Law.

Chromatic Dispersion

While light appears white, it is made up of colors of th e rainbow. These colors can be se parated
by shining a white light through a prism (a triangu la r glass object ). This separati on is called
di spersio n and is mo re commonly observed in a rainbow when sunlight is refrac ted by droplets
of water. Chroma ti c dispersion occ urs in some material s because different wavelengths of light
have differing ind ices of refraction and are refl ected at different angles.

Total Internal Reflection

When the in ci dent angle eq uc1ls th e critical angle (8 1 ;: SJ, the angle o f refracti on is 90'' (8.,:; 90'' ). Notin g
that sin 90":; 1, Snell's law in this case becomes n 1 si n 8 1 ;:: n 1• f he criti cal ang le 8, for a given
combination of mat erial s is thu s for n 1 > ni:

\Ill~'( "l (2)

lotal in ternal refl ell1on O(f lll ') 1ur .1 11y incident ani;le ~rr Jt er th :rn th e criticJI Jnglt~ 0 ,, and 1t

can only occ ur wlwn 11w wL ond nll'd1urn h.i') an ind ex o! rc lf,1ction less th,rn th e fir:.l.
 Online Experiment Setup Instructions
1. Go to the following website:
https://phet.colorado.ed u/sims/html/bending-light/latest/bending-light_en.html

2. Click the More Tools tab on the PHeT simulation.

7•:"
Adjust the Wavelength of light
Click the red circle to 'l\irn ON laser. The top area is considered
medium 1 with an
D,ag to indd~I ~,gle
index of refraction = n1

I
I

81 = incident angle

3. The index of refraction, n, is the ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum, (c), to the speed of
light in a medium, (v): n = ..E...
V
As light travels into different substances, the velocity of light
is lower. For our purposes the speed of light in a vacuum will be the same as that of air.
Using the initial parameters, use the speed tool to measure the velocity of light in the glass.

Write the velocity in terms of c.

4. The relationship between the velocity (v), frequency (f), and wavelength (A) of a wave
is given by: v = f A. Since the frequency remains constant when light travels between
different media, an expression can be written to solve for A2• For medium 1, V1 =f J..1 and
for medium 2, V2 = fA 2• By making an appropriate substitution, write a mathematical
expression for A2, in terms of v1, V2 and J..1•

Show all your work.

Snell's Law
1. Cl ick on the Reset button to clear the previous settings.

2. Turn ON the laser and Check the box to view Angles.

3. For each Data Set, setup using the initial data parameters and complete the table below.

Data Set 1 Data Set 2 Data Set 3 Data Set 4

>., (nm) 650 532 440 395
n, 1.000 1.000 1.333 1.500
n2 1.333 1.500 1.500 1.000
0 30° 45° 60° 30°

4. Record the resulting 0 2.

5. Measure v, and V2using the speed measurement tool.

6. Calculate Sin 0, and Sin 0 2.

7. Calculate>., using the expression you wrote on page 2.

8. Repeat Steps 3-6 for Data Sets 2, 3 & 4.

Table 1: Data Results: Snell's Law

Set# 82 V1 v2 Sin 8 1 Sin 8 2

\
1 '2- 1 11 ' l, o;,c ' 7 { (.
2 () ft.i 1· r, i7 l 'hi l
vSu. L .al-
3
4 <.(i . \
'1
,L-? c.
(_
\ .... (

Table 2: Data Analysis: Snell's Law

Set# sinsin 8
1
-
n2
-
V
1 \
sins in 8
2
n
1 v2 "z
1
2
3
4
Observations and Analysis

1. Using your data from Table 1, Calculate and Record each of the ratios in the Table above.
Record your results to 3 significant digits.

2. What is the relationship between the angles of incidence, 81 and refraction, 8,?

3. What is the relationship between wave speed and the index of refraction?

4. Based upon the pattern you see above for the ratios across different data sets, write a
complete mathematical expression for Snell's Law. Verify your expression by looking up
Snell's Law in your textbook or the internet.

Chromatic Dispersion
1. Click on the Reset button to clear the previous settings.

2. Turn on the laser and check the box to turn on Angles.

3. Set n1 to air and n, to glass. Adjust the incident angle, 81 to 30'

4. Adjust the Color of the light beam to Red.

s. Record the wavelength and its associated refracted angle in the table below.
6. Repeat Steps 4 & 5 for each of the colors given in Column 1.

Table 3: Data Results: Chromatic Dispersion

Color Wavelength, A (nm) Refracted Angle, 8r (0 )

Red '( 7 I 'I• ~

Orange I dl 11.\.
Yellow ~).$ ~. \
Green \ ( q ,If
Blue lJ II S q.
Purple \'/. 1
-~" 0.
Observations
1. Describe the relationship between refracted angle and wavelength.

h,t, SL.-/, tr t~{,, i,J,..__~c It«- 1 r-. ti, -l

({ \) i' 'r i(;t, () s

2. Which wavelength of light bends more blue or red? Explain your reasoning.

Total Internal Reflection

1. Reset the simulation. Turn ON the laser and Check the box to view Angles .

2. Set the following initial data parameters given in Column 1 of the table below.

3. Calculate and Record the critical angle 80 for the water-air interface. [
4. Set 8 to 15° and complete the table below. Repeat for angles 30°, 45° and 60°.
2

Table 4: Data Results and Analysis : Total Internal Reflection

0
(o) Reflected, 8T ( )

Data Parameters 81 (o) 82

\ = 650nm 15° IS' Lo L

n 1. 333 30° ) <-i LQ
c, )
-
1
45° ) 'J Ii
n - 1. 000
2
60° :> NA

Observations and Analysis

1. What happens when the refracted angle, 82, approaches 90 degrees?

Reset the Simulation and Choose Mystery A for Material 2. Turn ON Laser and Check box to view Angles .

sinsin 0
2. When air is the medium of incidence of light, Snell's Law can be simplified to n2 = sinsin 8 : .

Use this to determine the index of refraction of the Mystery A material.

s \L ( \ (I
Madia lndnolRofr..-
Vecwm 1.00
Record your answer here. b )
NI 1.0003

s;£.¼\~( ,~.~)
Carbon dloxld, a.i, U005
lu 1.,1
Pure waltt 1.u
Ethyt akohol 1.H
Qw,ru UI
3. Use the table to the right to determine what the mystery material might VNttlblt oM U7
Ollvaoll UI
be: A<,Yllc UI
Tablit Hlt t.51
Record your answer here. GIIII 1.52
S-hko 1.77
ZJrcon 1.12
Cubic zin:onll 2.11
Diamond 2.12
Gallium pl,otphklo uo