5.2 More about refraction Flashcards
What does the amount of refraction that takes place depend on?
the amount of refraction that takes place depends on the speed of thE waves in each substance.
With given speeds, how do you find the refractive index of substances?
n,s = c / c,s
What does the equation n,s = c / c,s show about how the speed of light in a substance affects the refractive index?
This equation shows that the smaller the speed of light is in a substance, the greater is the refractive index of the substance
State what happens to the wave speed, frequency and wavelength to a wave during refraction.
wave speed : slows down
wavelength : gets shorter
frequency : remains the same
What equation do you use if you know 3 of 4 quantities in refraction?
n1sinθ1=n2sinθ2
where θ1 = i and θ2 = r
When a light ray passes from a vacuum into a transparent substance of refractive index n,
sinθ1/sinθ2 = n
where θ1 = the angle between the incident ray and the normal, θ2 = the angle between the refracted ray and the normal
What is the refractive index of air?
1
What can a prism be used to split a white light into?
We can use a prism to split a beam of white light from a filament lamp or sunlight into the colours of the spectrum by a glass prism.
Why can a prism be used to split a white light into colours of the spectrum?
This happens because white light is composed of light with a continuous range of wavelengths. The glass prism refracts light by different amounts depending on its wavelength.
The shorter the wavelength in air, the greater the amount of refraction.
So each colour in the white light beam is refracted by a different amount.
This dispersive effect occurs because the speed of light in glass depends on wavelength.
What does dispersion of light in a glass prism depend on?
The dispersive effect occurs because the speed of light in glass depends on wavelength.
