If the angle of incidence in glass (n=1.5) is 60°, will total internal reflection occur when light travels to air?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
If the angle of incidence in glass (n=1.5) is 60°, will total internal reflection occur when light travels to air?
Yes
No
Depends on the angle
Not enough information
Since the critical angle for glass to air is sin⁻¹(1.00/1.5) ≈ 41.8°, and 60° > 41.8°, total internal reflection occurs.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
1 item
Q
Q: If the angle of incidence in glass (n=1.5) is 60°, will total internal reflection occur when light travels to air?
Solution: Since the critical angle for glass to air is sin⁻¹(1.00/1.5) ≈ 41.8°, and 60° > 41.8°, total internal reflection occurs.
Steps: 6
Step 1: Understand the concept of total internal reflection. It occurs when light travels from a denser medium (like glass) to a less dense medium (like air) and the angle of incidence is greater than a certain critical angle.
Step 2: Identify the refractive indices of the two media. For glass, the refractive index (n) is 1.5, and for air, it is approximately 1.00.
Step 3: Calculate the critical angle using the formula: critical angle = sin⁻¹(n2/n1), where n1 is the refractive index of glass (1.5) and n2 is the refractive index of air (1.00).
Step 4: Plug in the values: critical angle = sin⁻¹(1.00/1.5).
Step 5: Calculate the critical angle, which is approximately 41.8°.
Step 6: Compare the angle of incidence (60°) with the critical angle (41.8°). Since 60° is greater than 41.8°, total internal reflection will occur.
