Introduction: The purpose of this lab is to observe the laws of refraction and reflection through two different mediums with different indices of refraction.
Data:
First Experiment:
 |
| Set up of the lab for the first experiment |
 |
| First trial using flat side of semi-circular prism |
 |
| Example of reflection and refraction at some angle using flat surface of semi-circular prism |
 |
| Refraction angles collected at various degrees |
 |
| Plot of angle 1 vs. angle 2 |
 |
| Plot of the sine values of each angle |
 |
| Second experiment conducted where the curved side of the semi-circular prism was used. |
 |
| Example of total internal reflection at a certain angle that was calculated to be about 42 degrees. |
 |
| Refraction angles measured at various degrees. After a certain point, the light begins to completely reflect inside the semi-circular prism |
 |
| Plot of angle 1 vs angle 2 for the second experiment where light entered through the curved side of the semi-circular prism |
 |
| Plot of the sine values of each angle for the second experiment |
In our first experiment, we found that there is a linear relationship between the angle of incidence (Theta 1) and the angle of refraction (Theta 2). In the second experiment, we found the same relationship between angle of incidence and angle of refraction, but after we reached a certain angle of about 40 degrees, we found that our light experienced total internal reflection. This phenomena happens after the angle of refraction reaches a point where it is reflected along the side of the prism. The light experiences no refraction and instead complete reflection. Looking at the angle of our second graph for trial #2, we also found that the slope of the graph gives us the index of refraction of our semi-circular prism which is made out of acrylic. Our graph gives us an index of 1.4875, while the accepted value is 1.49.
No comments:
Post a Comment