NAME OF THE SCHOOL

PHYSICS INVESTIGATORY

PROJECT

NAME:
CLASS: 12
ROLL NO:
SESSION

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 CERTIFICATE
This is hereby to certify that the
original and genuine investigation
work has been carried out to
investigate about the subject matter
and the related data collection and
investigation has been completed
solely, sincerely and satisfactorily by
…………. a student of class 12thA of
XYZ School regarding his project
titled
“Total Internal Reflection” .

TEACHER SIGNATURE

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It would be my utmost
pleasure to express my
sincere thanks to my Physics
teacher ……. in providing a
helping hand in this project.
Her valuable guidance,
support andsupervision all
through this project are
responsible for attaining its
present form. I would also like
to thank my parents and
friends as they encouraged me
to put forward my project.

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 CONTENTS
• Introduction
• Optical description
• Critical angle
• Phase shift upon total
internal reflection
• Total internal reflection in
diamond
• Applications of total internal
reflection
• Examples in everyday life
• Total Internal
Reflectionusing a Soda
Bottle{EXPERIMENT}

Bibliography

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 INTRODUCTION
Total internal reflection is an optical phenomenon
that happens when a ray of light strikes a medium
boundary at an angle larger than a particular
critical angle with respect to the normal to the
surface. If the refractive index is lower on the
other side of the boundary and the incident angle
is greater than the critical angle, no light can pass
through and all of the light is reflected. The critical
angle is the angle of incidence above which the
total internalreflectance occurs.
When a light beam crosses a boundary between
materials with different kinds of refractive indices,
the light beam will be partially refracted at the
boundary surface, and partially reflected.
However, if the angle of incidence is greater (i.e.
the ray is closer to being parallel to the boundary)
than the critical angle – the angle of incidence at
which light is refracted such that it travels along
the boundary then the light will stop crossing the
boundary altogether and instead be totally
reflected back internally. This can only occur
where light travels from a medium with a higher
[n1=higher refractive index] to one with a lower
refractive index [n2=lower refractive index]. For
example, it will occur when passing from glass to
air, but not when passing from airto glass.

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OPTICAL DESCRIPTION
Total internal reflection can be demonstrated using a
semi-circular block of glass or plastic. A "ray box" shines
a narrow beam of light (a "ray") onto the glass. The
semi-circular shape ensures that a ray pointing towards
the centre of the flat face will hit the curved surface at a
right angle; this will prevent refraction at the air/glass
boundary of the curvedsurface. At the glass/air
boundary of the flat surface, what happens will depend
on the angle? Where is θC the critical angle
measurement which is caused bythe sun or a light
source (measured normal to the surface):
• If θ < θC, the ray will split. Some of the ray will
reflect off the boundary, and some will refract as it
passes through. This is not total internal reflection.
• If θ > θC, the entire ray reflects from the boundary.
None passes through. This is called total internal
reflection.
This physical property makes optical fibres usefuland
prismatic binoculars possible. It is also what gives
diamonds their distinctive sparkle, as diamond has an
unusually high refractive index.

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CRITICAL ANGLE
The critical angle is the angle of incidence above
which total internal reflection occurs. The angle of
incidence is measured with respect to the normal at
the refractive boundary (see diagram illustrating
Snell's law). Consider a light ray passing from glass
into air. The light emanating from the interface is
bent towards the glass. When the incident angle is
increased sufficiently, the transmitted angle (in air)
reaches 90 degrees. It is at this point no light is
transmitted into air. The critical angle is given by
Snell's law.
n1 sin θi=n2 sin θt
Rearranging Snell's Law, we get incidence

n2
sin θ = sin θt

To find the critical angle, we find the value for θ i

When θ =90 °and thussin θ =1.The resulting value of

t t

θc
is equal to the critical angle .

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Now, we can solve for θ , and we get the
i

equation for the critical angle:

θc =θ i =sin −1 ( )
n2

N
If the incident ray is precisely at the critical
A
angle, the refracted ray is tangent to the
boundary at the point of incidence. If for
example, visible light were travelling through
M
acrylic glass (with an index of refraction of 1.50)
into air (with an index of refraction of 1.00), the
E
calculation would give the critical angle for light
from acrylic into air, which is
1.00

PH
θ =sin−1 =41.8
1.50

O
Y F
S
T
I
H
C E
S
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S
 PHASE SHIFT UPON
TOTAL INTERNAL
REFLECTION
A lesser-known aspect of total internal reflection is
that the reflected light has an angle dependent phase
shift between the reflected and incident light.
Mathematically this means that the Fresnel reflection
coefficient becomes a complex rather than a real
number. This phase shift is polarization dependent
and grows as the incidence angle deviates further
from the critical angle toward grazing incidence.
The polarization dependent phase shift is long
known and was used by Fresnel to design the Fresnel
rhomb which allows transforming circular
polarization to linear polarization and vice versa for a
wide range of wavelengths (colors), in contrast to the
quarter wave plate. The polarization dependent phase
shift is also the reason why TE and TM guided modes
have different dispersion relations.

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From glass to air the critical angle is about 42o but it
varies from one medium to another. The material that
gives the smallest critical angle is diamond. That is why
they sparkle so much! Rays of light can easily be made to
'bounce around inside them' by careful cutting of the
stone and the refraction at the surfaces splits the light
into a spectrum of colors!
Relatively speaking, the critical angle 24.4o for the
diamond-air boundary is extremely small. This property
of the diamond-air boundary plays an important role in
the brilliance of a diamond gemstone. Having a small
critical angle, light has thetendency to become "trapped"
inside of a diamond once it enters. Most rays approach
the diamond at angles of incidence greater than the
critical angle (asit is so small) so a light ray will typically
undergo TIR several times before finally refracting out of
the diamond. This gives diamond a tendency to sparkle.
The effect can be enhanced by the cutting of a diamond
gemstone with a 'strategically' plannedshape.

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APPLICATIONS OF
TOTAL INTERNAL
REFLECTION
▪ Total internal reflection is the operating
principle of optical fibers, which are used in
endoscopes and telecommunications.
Total internal reflection is the operating
principle of automotive rain sensors, which
control automatic windscreen/windshield
wipers.
Another application of total internal reflection is
the spatial filtering of light.
▪ Prismatic binoculars use the principle of total
internal reflections to get a very clear image.
Gonioscopy employs total internal reflection to
view the anatomical angle formed betweenthe
eye's cornea and iris.
Optical fingerprinting devices use frustrated
total internal reflection in order to record an
image of a person's fingerprint without the use
of ink.
A Total internal reflection fluorescence microscope
uses the evanescent wave produced by TIR to
excite fluorophores closeto a surface. This is
useful for the study of surface properties of
biological samples.

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Total internal reflection can be observed while
swimming, when one opens one's eyes just under the
water's surface. If the water is calm, its surface appears
mirror-like.
One can demonstrate total internal reflection by filling a
sink or bath with water, taking a glass tumbler, and
placing it upside-down over the plug hole (with the
tumbler completely filled with water). While water
remains both in the upturned tumbler and in the sink
surrounding it, the plug hole and plug are visible since the
angle of refraction between glass and water is not
greater than the critical angle. If the drain is opened and
the tumbler is kept in position over the hole, the water in
the tumbler drains out leaving the glass filled with air,
and this then acts as the plug. Viewing this from above,
the tumbler now appears mirrored because light reflects
off the air/glass interface.
This is different phenomenon from reflection and
refraction. Reflection occurs when light goes back in
same medium. Refraction occurs when light travels from
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different mediums. Here both are not happening. This is
due to both and a mixture of both.Another common
example of total internal reflection is a critically cut
diamond. This is what gives it maximum spark

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Total Internal Reflection
using a Soda Bottle
Explanation
In this case, nair = 1.00 nwater = 1.33. Therefore:

In this demo light will continually reflect through

thestream of water creating total internal reflection
(TIR). The stream of water will 'carry' the light
though, to the end of the stream.Total Internal
Reflection is the principle behind fiberoptics.

Materials
• empty soda pop bottle (2 liter)

• tape

• hand drill

• drill bits

• water

• green laser

• bucket

• old books, etc for stands

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 Procedure
First tape the hole and then fill the bottle with
water. The cap will prevent leaking because it
creates a vacuum in the bottle.

• Stand the soda bottle on top of a stack of books

sothe hole is facing the bucket. The laser should
be placed in a binder clip so it stays on, and then
set on a stack of books and papers. The laser
should be lined up so that the laser light goes
through the soda bottle, and into the center of the
hole. See for details.

• Carefully remove the tape and then unscrew the

top of the soda bottle. The light should reflect
within the stream of water so that you could see
at least a few points of reflection. The light
shouldbe visible through the entire stream.

• If the reflections of the light aren’t clear, it may be

necessary to expand the hole by drilling through
the existing hole with a larger drill bit. This
process may need to be repeated several times.

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 Notes
• This is an messy experiment. Be ready to
adjustthe bucket which catches the stream of
water.

• Also be aware that the stream's curvature will

change as the water level decreases. It will bend
closer to the bottle, and the bucket may need to
be adjusted again. When the water level is a
littleabove the hole there will be no total
internal reflection although the stream will
continue. Place the cap back on, or put the bottle
inside of the bucket.
n1

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

www.google.com

www.yahoo.com

www.wikipedia.org

https://www.youtube.com/ALLINVESTIGATORYPROJECTS

https://t.me/allinvestigatoryprojects

NCERT Class 12th physics Book

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