VELS VIDYASHRAM

SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL

PALLAVARAM

PHYSICS INVESTIGATORY
PROJECT
2024-2025

DETERMINATION OF REFRACTIVE
INDEX OF WATER USING HOLLOW
PRISM

NAME: YASHIK.S
ROLL NO:
REGISTRATION NUMBER:
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my special thanks of

gratitude to my physics teacher Mrs. Sowmiya
as well as our physics lab in-charge who gave
me the golden opportunity to do this wonderful
investigatory project on the topic,determintion
of refractive index of water using hollow
prism which also helped me in doing a lot of
research and I came to know about so many
new things.

Secondly, I would like to thank my friends

Arjun.K and Nirav asher. who helped me a lot
in finishing this project within the limited time. It
helped me increase my knowledge and skills.
 INDEX

S.NO. TOPIC PAGE

NO.
1 Acknowledgement 2
2 Introduction 4
3 Theory 5
4 Experiment 6
5 Observation 7
6 Conclusion 9
7 Result 10
8 Precautions 10
9 Sources Of Error 10
10 Application 11
11 Bibliography 12
 INTRODUCTION
● A prism is a transparent optical element with flat,
polished surfaces that refract light.
● A prism can be used to break light up into its
constituent spectral colors. Prisms can also be used to
reflect light, or to split light into components with
different polarizations
● A triangular glass prism has two triangular bases
and three rectangular lateral surfaces. These
surfaces are inclined to each other The angle
between its lateral surface is called the angle of the
prism.
● A hollow prism is a prism made using a glass plate
with the centre part of the prism vacant. This cavity
can be filled with gas or other fluids. Thus, a hollow
prism is also commonly called a fluid prism.
● The peculiar shape of the prism makes the
emergent ray bend at an angle to the direction of
the incident ray. This angle is called the angle of
deviation.
 EXPERIMENT
AIM: To find the refractive Index of the given liquid.

MATERIALS REQUIRED: Hollow prism, benzaldehyde,

water, dilute sulphuric acid, board pins, drawing
sheet, drawing board, and protractor.

PROCEDURE:
1. Fix the sheet of white paper on the drawing board
with drawing pins.

2. Place the prism filled with liquid on the paper and

trace its boundary with ‘ABC’.

3. Mark a point ‘O’ on one of the refracting surfaces

and draw a normal to the surface at this point.

4. Draw a straight line PQ corresponding to the

incident ray drawn at a suitable angle with the
normal.
5. Fix two pins P and Q about 5cm apart by the
incident ray line and view its image with one eye
closed from the side AC of the prism. Fix two
points R and S such that the tips of these pins
and the tip of the images of the incident ray pins
P and Q lie in the same straight line.

6. Encircle the pinpricks on the paper, remove the

pins P and Q and also encircle their pinpricks.

7. Join points S and R and produce it backwards to

meet the incident ray PQ produced thus, RS is the
emergent ray corresponding to the incident ray
PQ, draw heads to show the direction of the rays.

8.Measure the angle of deviation with the

protractor and measure the prism angle. Then
find the refractive index of the given liquid by
using that formula
 THEORY
• Refraction: The phenomenon of bending of
light from one surface to another surface.

• Angle of incidence: The angle between the

incident ray and normal ray.

• Angle of deviation: The angle between the

incident ray and the emergent ray is called the
angle of deviation. It is denoted by ‘D’.

• Dispersion: The phenomenon of

separation/splitting of white light into 7 different
colours is called dispersion.

• Prism: a transparent, polished flat optical

element that reflects light. These can be made
from any transparent material with wavelengths.
• The refractive index of the given liquid can be
calculated by the given formula:

Where, μ = refractive index of the liquid

A = angle of minimum deviation
D= angle of prism
i = angle of incidence
r = angle of refraction
 OBSERVATION

WATER
ANGLE ANGLE OF ANGLE OF
OF INCIDENCE DEVIATIO
PRISM N

CONCLUSION

⮚ WATER

ACTUAL :
EXPERIMENTAL :
 RESULT
⮚ The angle of deviation first decrease with
the increase of angle of incidence attains a
minimum value and then increases with a
further increase in angle of incidence.

PRECAUTIONS
⮚ A sharp pencil should be used.

⮚ Proper arrows should be drawn to indicate

the incident ray, refracted ray and
emergent ray.

⮚ Pins should be vertically fixed and should lie in

same line

SOURCES OF ERROR
⮚ Pins should have sharp tips and be fixed
vertically.
⮚ Visibility of the pins may be low for
coloured liquids, they may be illuminated by
a source of white light.
 APPLICATION OF HOLLOW
PRISM

⮚ This prism is a well-known tool used for

determining the refractive index of fluid
and is normally made from high-quality
glass for obtaining highly accurate
estimation.

​ Prisms find use in several fields like

ophthalmology, optical instruments, and
architecture.

​ They are commonly seen in telescopes,

binoculars, submarine periscopes, and
microscopes, even they are used in
cameras.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

​ https://www.scribd.com/doc/

​ https://iopscience.iop.org/article/

​ NCERT physics textbook