A light ray traveling in a medium with a refractive index of 1.6 strikes a bound
Practice Questions
Q1
A light ray traveling in a medium with a refractive index of 1.6 strikes a boundary with air at an angle of 50°. What will be the outcome?
Total internal reflection occurs.
Light is refracted into the air.
Light is absorbed.
Light is scattered.
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
A light ray traveling in a medium with a refractive index of 1.6 strikes a boundary with air at an angle of 50°. What will be the outcome?
Step 1: Understand that a light ray travels through different materials, and the refractive index tells us how much the light bends when it enters a new material.
Step 2: Identify the refractive index of the first medium, which is given as 1.6.
Step 3: Recognize that the light ray is moving from the medium (with a refractive index of 1.6) to air (which has a refractive index of approximately 1.0).
Step 4: Calculate the critical angle using the formula: critical angle = arcsin(n2/n1), where n1 is the refractive index of the first medium (1.6) and n2 is the refractive index of air (1.0).
Step 5: Plug in the values: critical angle = arcsin(1.0/1.6). This gives us a critical angle of approximately 38.7°.
Step 6: Compare the angle of incidence (50°) with the critical angle (38.7°). Since 50° is greater than 38.7°, total internal reflection will occur.
Step 7: Conclude that when the angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle, the light will not pass into the air but will reflect back into the medium.
Refraction and Total Internal Reflection – Understanding how light behaves at the boundary between two different media, particularly when the angle of incidence exceeds the critical angle.
Critical Angle Calculation – Calculating the critical angle using the refractive indices of the two media involved.
