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Quick Study Notes On Refraction

The document discusses refraction, which is the change in direction of a wave when encountering a boundary between two media. It describes how the speed, wavelength, and direction change upon refraction but the frequency remains the same. It also defines refractive index, Snell's law, and how the absolute refractive index relates to the speed of light in a vacuum and medium.

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70 views1 page

Quick Study Notes On Refraction

The document discusses refraction, which is the change in direction of a wave when encountering a boundary between two media. It describes how the speed, wavelength, and direction change upon refraction but the frequency remains the same. It also defines refractive index, Snell's law, and how the absolute refractive index relates to the speed of light in a vacuum and medium.

Uploaded by

victoria kairoo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Refraction

The change in directions of a wave upon an encounter with a boundary.


Change in:
- Speed
- Wavelength
- Direction
NB: frequency remains the same.
Refraction of light occurs when a ray of light travels through two media of different optical
densities.
- Incident ray
- Refracted ray
- Normal
- Angle of incidence
- Angle of refraction
Refractive index: sin i/ sin r
The refractive index of medium 2 with respect to medium 1 is denoted as: 1n2
Snell’s law: sin i/ sin r = 1n2
1n2 = c1 / c2 where c1 is the speed of light in the incident material and c2 is the speed of light in
the refracted material.
2n1 = 1 / 1n2
Absolute refractive index of a material: n= cv / cm
Where cv is the speed of light in a vacuum and cm is the speed of light in the medium.
Snell’s law can also be written as: sin i/sin r = n1/n2
or n1sini or n2sinr

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