Exercise No.

5
Refractive index of different liquid substances inside the House
Name : Date :
Group No. : Score :

Objective: 1. Measure the different refractive index of liquids inside the house.
2. Learn how to measure refractive index of a sample.

Discussion:

Refractive Index (Index of Refraction) is a value calculated from the ratio of the speed of light in a
vacuum to that in a second medium of greater density. The refractive index variable is most commonly
symbolized by the letter n or n' in descriptive text and mathematical equations.

As presented in the figure above, a wavefront incident upon a plane surface separating two media is refracted
upon entering the second medium if the incident wave is oblique to the surface. The incident angle (θ(1)) is
related to the refraction angle (θ(2)) by the simple relationship known as Snell's law.

Materials: Clear colorless Plastic cups or Clear Colorless Glass

Protractor
Water
Ethanol (Alcohol)
Table Sugar
Salt
Cooking oil
Colored Straw or Pencil (whichever is available)
Scientific calculator
Procedure:
1. Place the straw or Pencil in an empty Cup or glass, make sure that it is in slant position.

2. Fill the cup up into half amount with water.

3. Using the protractor, measure the angle of the bending of the straw in air or the part of the straw NOT
submerged in water (Angle of incidence), and the Bending of straw that is submerged in the liquid solution
(Angle of refraction).

4. Repeat the same procedure (1-3) for the rest of the liquid samples. Make sure to measure the samples one at
a time.

5. Compute for the Refractive index of the different sample and place your answers in the table provided.

*Since salt and table sugar are in solid form, create a solution of salt and sugar. You can obtain this one by
getting an eyeball amount of the solid samples into a container that contains water. Make sure that the solution
that you are creating are supersaturated solutions of the respective samples.
SAMPLE ANGLE OF ANGLE OF REFRACTIVE DOCUMENTATION
INCIDENCE REFRACTION INDEX (PICTURE AS PROOF OF MEASURING)

WATER 1° – 90° = 30° 113° – 90° = 23° n = 1.2797

ALCOHOL 121° – 90° = 31° 115° – 90° = 25° n = 2187

SUGAR 122° – 90° = 32° 116° – 90° = 26° n = 1.2088

SOLUTION
 SALT 118° – 90° = 28° 110° – 90° = 20° n = 1.3726
SOLUTION

COOKING OIL 119° – 90° = 29° 115° – 90° = 30° n = 1.1472

Computation: Show the steps or the computation done for getting the refractive index.

Water: Sugar solution:

sin i sin 32 0.5299192642
sin i sin 30 0.5 n= = = =1.208837005
n= = = =1.279652333 sinr sin 26 0.4383711468
sinr sin 33 0.3907311285
Salt Solution:
Alcohol:
sin i sin 28 0.4694715628
sin i sin 31 0.5150380749 n= = = =1.372643021
n= = = =1.218683908 sinr sin 20 0.3420201433
sinr sin 25 0.4226182617
Cooking oil:
 sin i sin 29 0.4848096202
n= = = =1.147157291
sinr sin 25 0.4226182617

QUESTIONS:

1. Define the following terms:

a) Index of refraction - The ratio of the velocity of light in air to the velocity of light in the medium, or
as the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle
of refraction.
b) Critical Ray - The angle of refraction in which the angle equals 90 o, which can be seen that
there exists a ray of refracted light.
c) Angle of Incidence - The angle between the ray in the first medium and perpendicular to the dividing
surface (called the normal).
d) Angle of Refraction - The corresponding angle in the second medium.

2. What is the unit of Measurement of glucose?

The unit of measurement of glucose’ levels in terms of molar concentration in the international standard way
are mmol/L (millimoles per liter) and in mass concentration the unit mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter) is used.

3. What is the Quantitative determination wherein uses refractometer/refractometry?

Refractometer is a laboratory device which is used in the laboratory to measure the refractive index of a
solution. Refractometry can determine the purity of the drug products or samples that is delivered to the
laboratory. The quantitative use of refractometer/refractometry is its ability to determine the purity of the
solution, substance, drug product, or sample that is observed.

4. In a Regular Laboratory Set up, what Instrument is used to measure the refractive Index? Provide an Illustration. And
label its parts.