PH 110 Laboratory-7

Name: Dhruv Gandhi

Institute ID: 202151053
Section 1B

Aim:

• To determine the angle of prism (A).

• Find the angles of deviation (d) corresponding to various angles of
incidence and draw the i-d curve.
• To determine the refractive index of the material of the prism.

Theory:
When a beam of light strikes on the surface of transparent material(Glass, water,
quartz crystal, etc.), the portion of the light is transmitted and other portion is
reflected. The transmitted light ray has small deviation of the path from the
incident angle. This is called refraction.

Refraction is due to the change in speed of light while passing through the
medium. It is given by Snell's Law.

Where i is the angle of incident and r is the angle of refraction. And n1 is the
refractive index of the first face and n2 is the refractive index of the second
face.
And the speed of light on both face is related to the equation :

c1 is the velocity of the wave in the first face and c2 is the velocity of the wave
in the second face.
Refractive index: It is the property of the matter, which determines how much
light is bending when light travels through it.
The refractive index of the material of the prism can be calculated by the
equation.

Where A is the angle of the prism and D is the angle of minimum deviation.

Observation:
Least count of a spectrometer:
One main scale division(N) = 1o = 60 minutes of arc
Number of divisions on vernier scale = 30
Least count = One main scale division / Number of divisions on Vernier scale
= (1/30) degrees
= (60/30) minutes of arc
= 2 minutes of arc
Observation Table:

Angle of Angle through Refracted Directed Angle of Mean d

incident which the reading (a) ray deviation (d)
(i) telescope reading (b) (a - b)
rotate
𝛉 = 180 - 2*i

30 120 V1=210 V1=90 V1=120 -60

V2=30 V2=270 V2=240

35 110 V1=205 V1=95 V1=110 -70

V2=25 V2=275 V2=-250

40 100 V1=200 V1=100 V1=100 -80

V2=20 V2=280 V2=-260

45 90 V1=195 V1=105 V1=90 -90

V2=15 V2=285 V2=-270

50 80 V1=190 V1=110 V1=80 -100

V2=10 V2=290 V2=-280

55 70 V1=185 V1=115 V1=70 -110

V2=5 V2=295 V2=-290

60 60 V1=180 V1=120 V1=60 -120

V2=0 V2=300 V2=-300

65 50 V1=175 V1=125 V1=50 50

V2=355 V2=305 V2=50
Graph:
60

40

20

0
30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65
-20

-40

-60

-80

-100

-120

-140

Results:
1) Angle of minimum deviation of the prism = 36o
2) Refractive index of the prism = 1.486
Conclusion:

The angle of minimum deviation of a prism is the angle at which the

emergent ray deflected from the angle at which the ray of light is incident on
the prism.
The relation between angle of deviation and the refractive index is as follows:

Where A is the angle of prism and D is the angle of minimum deviation.