Class Group: E33

Lab Group’s No: G4

CENTRE OF FOUNDATION STUDIES

FOUNDATION PHYSICS II

LABORATORY REPORT

Experiment REFLECTION AND REFRACTION OF THE

LIGHT

Name MUHAMMAD ARSYAD BIN MANSOR

Student ID 2021863914

Lab Instructor’s Name MADAM NOR FARIDAH HANIM MAT JUNIT

Date of Experiment 24/2/2022

Member 1 MUHAMMAD FARIDZ HEZRY BIN MOHD

ZAIDI

Member 2 MUHAMMAD DANIAL BIN SHARIL

 Experiment REFLECTION AND REFRACTION OF THE
LIGHT

Marks

Comment

PRE LAB QUESTIONS

1.State the law of reflection.
The law of reflection states that when a ray of light reflects off a surface, the
angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.

2.Sketch a ray diagram of a plane mirror showing the incident ray, the reflected
ray and the normal lie on the same plane.
3.State the theoretical value of index of refraction ,n of a glass.
The index of refraction for a glass ranges from 1.44 to 1.95.

4.Sketch a ray diagram of the refraction of light as it;

a)moves from air into glass.

b)moves from glass into air
5.By plotting a graph of sin(teta)1 versus sin(teta)2, what is the physical quantity
represented by the gradient of the graph?
Gradient represents the refractive index

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this experiment was to determine the law of reflection and
measure the refractive index of a glass block by using a ray from a ray box.We
used 5 different values of incidence angle,𝜃1 /° which are 10°, 20°, 30°, 40° and
50°. We have recorded the reflective angles, 𝜃r/° and refractive angles, 𝜃2 /°.
Based on the results, we found that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of
reflection.Meanwhile, the resulting refractive angles, 𝜃2 /° are 13.2°,19.5 °,25.4
°,30.7 °and 35.3 ° respectively.

INTRODUCTION

From the reflection law,the angle of the reflected ray is equal to the angle of the
incident ray when reflected off a smooth surface. The incident ray is the light
beam that strikes the mirror first, and the reflected ray is the light beam that
reflects light off the mirror after it hits the mirror. The angle of incidence is the
angle formed by the incident ray and the angle of reflection is formed by the
reflected ray. When light rays reflect off a surface, movement from one
transparent medium to another, or travel through a medium whose composition is
constantly changing, the ray will change direction. The angle of the reflected ray
is equal to the angle of the incident ray when reflected from a plane mirror.Next,
the refraction can be described as the light bends as it travels through a different
medium.The incident ray and the normal to the surface establish the plane in
which the reflected ray always falls. Each ray is oriented relative to a line known
as the normal. At a point of reflection or refraction, this normal line is always
perpendicular to the plane. There are two types of rays that will happen at normal
lines. Firstly the incident rays that creates an angle, 𝜃i and second reflected rays
that creates an angle, 𝜃r. In refraction, the density of the medium can determine
whether it bends towards or away from the normal line when a light ray passes
through a different medium.

METHODOLOGY

Apparatus

Procedure

1.Set the angle of incident,θi to 20° by using protractor.

2.Observed and record the angle of reflection,θr and angle of refraction,θ by
using protractor.
3.Use the formula n sin Ө = n sin Ө to calculate the refractive index, n.
4.Again, repeat step 1 to step 3 by used other angle of incidence, 30°,40°,50°and
60°.
5. Identify whether the law of reflection, Өi = Өr is obeyed by doing this
experiment.
RESULT

Reflection

Angle of incident, Өi, ° Angle of reflection, Өr, °

20 20

30 30

40 40

50 50

60 60

Refraction

Angle of incidence,Өi,° Angle of refraction,Ө,° Refractive index, n

20.0 13.2 1.5

30.0 19.5 1.5

40.0 25.4 1.5

50.0 30.7 1.5

60.0 35.3 1.5

CALCULATIONS

DISCUSSION

Based on the experiment that has been done,we could obtain the reflective
and refractive angle.By observing the results,we can conclude that
incidence angle,𝜃1 /° is equal with reflective angle,𝜃r/°.This is because the
incident angle decreases as it passes through the glass. I also noticed that
Snell's law can be used to prove the law of refraction of light.

CONCLUSION

The experimental study of reflection and refraction of light shows when θi = θr .

Therefore, the law of reflection is being applied. Moreover, the refractive index
can be found by using Snell’s formula, n1sinθ1= n2sinθ2. Where n1=incident
index of medium , sinθ1 = incident angle , n2 = incident index of glass block and
sinθ2 = refracted angle.By using the formula , we obtained that the refractive
index of glass block is 1.5.Thus, the formula is proven.
REFERENCES
1.https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/filter?subjects=physics&type=html,pr
ototype

POST LAB QUESTION

1. List properties of images formed by plane mirror.

-The size of the image is the same as the size of the object.
-Image obtain is virtual
-The distance between the image obtained is the same as the distance between
the object from the mirror

2. State the relationship between incident and reflection angle for plane
mirror.
-The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.

3. Explain why the index of refraction is dimensionless and must be greater

than or equal to 1.
-When the speed of light is always less than c in matter and equals c only in the
vacuum, the index of refraction is dimensionless and must be greater than or
equal to 1.