Solved problems on reflection and refraction

Snell's Law n1 sin θ1= n2 sin θ2

# Light travels from air into an optical fiber with an index

of refraction of 1.44. (a) In which direction does the light
bend? (b) If the angle of incidence on the end of the fiber
is 22o, what is the angle of refraction inside the
fiber? (c) Sketch the path of light as it changes media.
Solution:
a) Since the light is traveling from a rarer region (lower n) to
a denser region (higher n), it will bend toward the normal.

b) Let us consider air as medium as 1 and the fiber medium as

2. Thus, n1 = 1.00, n2 = 1.44, and θ1 = 22o. Snell's Law then
becomes
 (1.00) sin 22o = 1.44 sin θ2.
sin θ2 = (1.00/1.44) sin 22o = 0.260
θ2 = sin-1 (0.260) = 15o

c) The path of the light is shown in the figure below.

# Light traveling through an optical fiber (n=1.44) reaches
the end of the fiber and exits into air. (a) If the angle of
incidence on the end of the fiber is 30o, what is the angle
of refraction outside the fiber? (b) How would your
answer be different if the angle of incidence were 50o?
Solution:
Since the light is traveling from the fiber into air, we
will call the fiber material 1 and air material 2.
Thus, n1 = 1.44, n2 = 1.00, and θ1 = 30o. Snell's Law
then becomes
(1.44) sin 30o = 1.00 sin θ2.
sin θ2 = (1.44/1.00) sin 30o = 1.44 (0.500) = 0.720
θ2 = sin-1 (0.720) = 46o.
Notice that, the angle of refraction is larger than the angle of
incidence. The light is bending away from the normal as it enters a rarer
material.
b) Replacing the angle of incidence with 50o gives
sin θ2 = (1.44/1.00) sin 50o = 1.44 (0.766) = 1.103

This equality cannot be met, so light cannot exit the fiber under
these conditions.
The situation in part (b) is an example of total internal
reflection,
# A beam of flashlight traveling in air incident on a surface of
a thin glass at an angle of 38∘ with the normal. The index of
refraction of the glass is 1.56. What is the angle of
refraction?
Solution:
In this example problem, the light
is initially in the air with an index
of refraction ni=1.00 and strikes the
boundary surface separating air and
glass at θi= 38∘.

Another different medium is glass

with nr=1.56. θr​=?
By applying Snell's law,
# A boy is in a pool and shines a flashlight toward the level
of it at a 35∘ angle to the vertical. At what angle does the
flashlight beam leave the pool? (the index of refraction of
glass is 1.33).
Solution:
Here, the light beam initially
travels in the water and enters the
air with a lower index of refraction
so we expect that the angle of
refraction in the air bent away from
the vertical.
In other words, we expect that the angle of refraction is
greater than the angle of incidence i.e. θr​>θi​. Now, we
calculate it by applying Snell's law formula
# A piece of glass slab has an index of refraction of 1.5 and
is submerged in water with n=1.33. A beam of
monochrome light is incident on the slab and is
refracted. (a) Find the angle of refraction if the angle of
incidence is 30∘. (b) Now, assume that the light is initially
in the glass and incident on the glass-water surface. What is
the refraction of light?
Solution: (a)

Light strikes at an angle of θi=30∘ in the water ni=1.33 on

the glass at a point with nr=1.5. Applying Snell's law of
refraction, nisinθi​=nrsinθr, we get
(b) In the second case, the light originates from the glass
with ni=1.5 and strikes at an angle of 30∘ on the surface of
glass-water. The refracted ray would be in the
water ni=1.33. Using Snell's law equation, we have
# A ray of light traveling through glass with an index of
refraction n=1.5 strikes the interface of the glass-water. Let the index of
refraction of water be n=1.33. At what minimum angle, the ray does
not enter the water?
Solution:
In this question, we are asked to find an angle at which the refracted
ray is removed. This occurs when the refracted angle in the second
medium (here, water) becomes greater than or equal to 90∘. Applying
Snell's law of refraction, we have