Lab 1 (Guide), Refraction.

Equipment Per Table: Light Box, Power supply, cork boards, Plexiglas (solid semi-circle), a piece of plotting paper, ruler. Objective(s) To observe refraction and dispersion of visible light as it passes through air and Lucite (Plexiglas). To verify the Snells Law of refraction.

Introduction Light travels not only in air and vacuum but also in other gases, liquids and solids, which we say, are transparent. When an incident ray of light hits the interface of two transparent media, two rays are formed at the interface. One ray is reflected, returning back at an angle equal to that of the incident beam. The other travels through the medium as the transmitted or refracted ray (see fig. 1), in a different direction governed by the Snells Law. The incident, reflected, and refracted rays, and the normal to the surface all lie in the same plane. Fig. 1, Refraction and reflection of light at the interface between media 1 and 2.

Procedures Place the plotting paper on the board and position the Plexiglas (Lucite) semi-circular disk so that the origin of the paper (the cross) is under the center of the disk (as shown in fig. 2.) Make sure that the straight edge of the semicircular disk is along one of the axes of the paper. Project a beam of light from the light box towards the center of the disk as shown in the figure at left. Mark and label the position of both incident and refracted rays as they cross the reference circle. Repeat for five different angles of incidence, carefully recording all relevant data in chart form in the appendix. Fig. 2. An illustration of the lab setup. Note that angles are not directly measured. We measure y1 and x1 to obtain the angle 1 by tan(1) = y1/x1, so 1 = tan-1(y1/x1). Do the same to obtain 2, the refracted angle.

Results Record your data on the data sheet shown in the appendix. Calculate parameters when needed and also fill in the corresponding cells in the sheet. Make an x-y scatter plot of sin(2) (as the vertical coordinate values) vs. sin(1) (as the horizontal coordinate values).

Discussion(s) Discuss your results and describe what you have observed in your extension studies. Include answers to any questions posed in the lab manual.

Guide of Lab report. The lab report contains four sections where each one starts with the subtitle. The introduction section should include the Snells Law and discuss the definitions and meaning of incident and refracted angles. Be sure to properly include the definition of the surface normal. The procedure section should contain detailed descriptions of data taking steps. Use bullets or numberings to clearly mark each key step of procedure. The results section contains the data sheet and the plot. You need to briefly explain columns and rows of the data sheet. Label the plot as figure 1 and provide a figure caption. A straight line fitting of your results provides a measurement of the index of refraction n of the Plexiglas. Note the slope of the line is (1/n), assuming the index of refraction of air is 1. The discussion section is where you summarize your findings and provide your analysis of whether your results are consistent with the Snells law.

Appendix: Data Table Numbers x1 (cm) y1 (cm) y1/x1 1 Sin(1) x2 y2 y2/x2 2 Sin(2) 1 8.65 1.80 0.208 0.205 0.204 8.75 1.40 0.160 0.159 0.158 2 8.15 3.50 0.429 0.406 0.395 8.50 2.45 0.288 0.281 0.277 3 7.00 5.50 0.786 0.666 0.618 8.10 3.65 0.451 0.423 0.410 4 5.40 7.10 1.315 0.921 0.796 7.50 4.80 0.640 0.569 0.539 5 2.75 8.50 3.091 1.258 0.951 6.90 5.70 0.826 0.690 0.637