Talia Bahar

Period: 1

*Laser Refraction Lab*

Introduction
Description:
Refraction is the bending of a wave due to a change in wave speed that occurs on the
barrier between two medias. In this lab we will be using three different medias and
measuring their index of refraction and refraction angle. Then we will use that
information to find the critical angle between two media. The medias we will be using
in this lab are water, salt water, and glass. And to gather our initial measurements we
will use an arduino powered laser taped to a ring stand. Then we will use trigonometry
and snells law to calculate our results, which we will later compare to the accepted
results to see if our method worked.
Materials
-

Laser
Arduino for powering the laser
Computer
Ring Stand
Flask
Water
Salt Water
Glass Slab
2 Calculators (used as stands + for calculations)
Tape
Paper
Pen
Meter Stick

Procedure
1. We first gathered our main supplies: flask, water, salt, and glass slab.
2. We then filled the flask with 100mL of water
3. Next we setup the laser and plugged the Arduino into the computer to
power it
4. Then we taped the laser to the top of the flask
5. Then we placed a piece of paper on the base of the ring stand
6. We then elevated the flask of water on two calculators so there was space
between it and the paper
7. Then we proceeded to mark where laser hit the paper through the water
8. Next we took a pen and sticked it in the beaker until it was level with the
bottom

9. We moved the pen till the laser beam hit it right at the water level and then
marked that on paper below the beaker as well
10. After that we used the meter stick to measure the distance between those
two points and then measured the height of the water, the height of the laser, and
where the laser hit the water
11. Then we used trigonometry to calculate 1 pair of 1 and 2 measurements
for each air/medium surface
12. After that we added salt to the flask to create our salt water media
13. We made sure to stir the solution so all the salt was dissolved
14. We then repeated steps 1-11 using a new sheet of paper
15. For the slab of glass we then shined the laser through the glass at a 90
degree angle
16. We measured the lasers point without the glass on a piece of paper
17. Then we measured the new refracted point made by the glass on the
same piece of paper
18. We then proceeded to measure the distance between the laser and the
glass and the distance between the glass and the two marked points.
19. Finally we used trigonometry to find the refracted angle and used this data
for our analysis.

Medium

Water

21

41

Salt Water

28

30

Glass

10.3

90

Analysis:
Medium
Water

Salt Water

Glass

Index

Speed

Critical Angle

sin 21 1.0003
=
sin 41
n1

v1
sin 21
=
sin 41 2.99 108

sin crit 1.0003

=
sin 90
1.84

n1=1.84

v 1=1.914 108 m/s

crit =32.93

sin28 1.0003
=
sin30
n1

v1
sin28
=
sin30 2.99 108

sin crit 1.0003

=
sin 90
1.07

n1=1.07

v 1=1.45 10 m/ s

crit =69.2

sin10.3 1.0003
=
sin 90
n1

v1
sin10.3
=
sin 90 2.99 108

sin crit 1.0003

=
sin 90
5.6

n1=5.6

v 1=5.19 10 7 m/ s

crit =10.3

*Snell's Law:

Conclusion:
When compared to the accepted values are results are not that close. For water
we got an index of 1.84, while the accepted index value is 1.33. For salt water we got an
index of 1.07, while the accepted value is 1.38. Our index for water should've decreased
and our salt index should have increased, so something was really wrong there. We
could have had inaccurate measurements or we could have miscalculated, resulting in
our numbers being off a bit from the accepted. However, for glass our index was way
off. We calculated an index of 5.6, but the accepted value is about 1.5. I think another
source of error could of been something to do with our procedure, because our
calculated velocities were also off from the actual. Our procedure might not of been as
foolproof as we had thought. It was hard to accurately make our dots on the paper
under the flasks and the glass so our distances could have been faulty. Next time I
would try to think of procedure that would result in more accurate measurements. I
would also double check our measurements and calculations to make sure we didnt
make any small mistakes that in the end would of put our end results.