AIM

Adetermine angle of minimum deviation for a given prism by plotting a graph between
angle of incidence and angle oft deviation.
APPARATUS REQUIRED
prism, drawing boara, white paper, needles, protector,
graph paper and metre scale.
PRINCIPLE

When a light ray falls on one face of

two faces, it emerges out of the prism.
a
prism, then after refractions on

The angle between the incident ray and the

emergent ray is called the angle s Angle of Deviation
ofdeviation
(8). The angle of deviation due to a prism depends upon the angle
Emergent Ray
Incident
Ray

of incidence. On increasing the angle of incidence, the angle of deviation

first decreases, becomes minimum for some value of angle of incidence and
then begins to increase. The angle of minimum deviation (E,,) is different for B
different prism geometries, prism materials etc.
(Fig. 1)
In terms of prism angle (A) and angle of minimum deviation (8m), the
refractive index of prism material is given by
sin
(A+Om
2
n

sin
OBSERVATION
Table for angles of incidence (i) and angles of
deviation (d):
S. No.
Angle of Incidence ( Angle of Deviation (8)
1.
30°
2.
3.
35
40
43
45
5. 50
6. 55
33
On the graph paper, draw the curve between the values of
deviations (81, ö2, 3, ...) determined above. The angles of incidence (30°, 35, 40,... ) and angles of
curve similar to that shown in Fig. 3 is obtained.
value of angle of deviation is read The minimum
on the curve.
 degree)
Angle of Deviation 5 (in

99E