George Cancio Cesar Jaramillo Dainier Marti PHY 2049L Thursday 8:15 pm 10:25 pm

Reflection and Refraction Purpose:

1. In the reflection of a ray of light from a plane surface, the angle

of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence ( = );

2. For a ray of light entering a

transparent material, the light is bent (refracted) at the interface in accord with Snells Law: (nsin = nsin).

Apparatus:
1. Laser 2. Elevated table or box 3. Lab Jack 4. ruler 5. Protractor 6. mirror 7. Lucite Prism

Procedure: A. REFLECTION
1. Remove the two pages, which have drawn lines for angles of incidence and marked REFLECTION and REFRACTION, respectively, from the end of this laboratory handout. One set may be turn in for the entire lab group. 2. Place the page marked REFLECTION on top of the elevated table. 3. Set the plane mirror on its lone edge, using a holder, with the back surface of the mirror on the solid line, and perpendicular to, the normal line marked N.
4. Arrange laser with lab jack to graze the horizontal surface of

the elevated table as it shines along the incident line marked 20. Turn laser on when necessary. AVOID SHINING THE LASER LIGHT AT ANYONES EYES.
5. Move and rotate the paper so that the light is coincident with

the 20 angle-of-incidence line, as measured from the normal, N, and strikes the intersection of back of mirror and the normal line.
6. Holding the paper so it cannot move, make a sharp pencil mark

along the reflected ray several centimeters away from the mirror. (Later you will draw a line from this mark to the intersection to reproduce the line of the reflected ray corresponding to an incident ray of 20
7. Repeat the above procedure for the two other labeled angles of

incidence: 40 and 60
8. Draw the lines of reflection with a straight edge (ruler). Measure

and record the angles of reflection with your protractor to the nearest degree. 9. Complete the table. Assume the angles of incidence have been drawn to 1-degree precision.

Reflection

Ra y 1 2 3

Incidence () 20 40 60

Reflection () 22 46 66

% Difference 10 % 15 % 10 %

B. REFRACTION
1. Place page marked REFRACTION on the table. 2. Place the triangular Lucite prism on the paper in the triangular region on page 5.
3. Arrange the table and laser so that light shines along the 40 line

and strikes the long side of the prism at the intersection of the 40 line and the normal.
4. Adjust for an angle of incidence () of exactly 40 with the light

striking the paper JUSTY AS IT EXITS THE PRISM. MARK THE POINT-TOUCHINGTHE PRISM-WHERE THE LIGHT EXITS THE PRISM. (You want to measure the angle of refraction inside the prism from where it enters the prism.)
5. Repeat above procedure for two other angles of incidence: 55

and 70. If necessary, label the marks to keep proper associations with respective angles of incidence.

6. Remove the prism and draw the lines of refraction. Measure angles of refraction () and enter data in table below. You may use a spreadsheet provided to calculate the last three columns.

REFRACTION Ra y ( ) () Sin () Sin () n Lucit e (1.50 ) 0.472 7 0.658 7 0.885 8

1 2 3

40 55 70

115 124 135

0.642 7 0.819 1 0.939 6

0.9063 0.8290 0.707 1

0.709 2 0.988 0 1.328 8

7. Write down Snells Law and solve for n in terms of the other

variables. nsin = nsin n = ((sin)/(n*sin)) 8. Using the formula you derived for n, along with the known value of n, the index of refraction for air (1.00) to three significant digits. Either use the spreadsheet (preferably) of calculate by hand the index of refraction for the Lucite for the three rays. n = ((sin40)/((1)*sin115)) = 1.4101

9. Write the average of your three values for n here. (By averaging, it may be good to three significant digits.) (n) avg = (0.7092+0.9880+1.3288)/3 = 1.006 10. Compare your experimental value to the published index of refraction for Lucite, 1.50. n = ((sin40) / ((1.50)*sin115)) = 0.4727
11. A small percentage of error in Step 10 proves the validity of the

Lucite Prism in which as the laser is shot across the prism the light bends drastically due to the index of refraction.