1

UNIVERSITY FRANCISCO JOSE DE CALDA

INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING CURRICULAR PROJECT
PHYSICS III: WAVES AND MODERN PHYSICS | GROUP 015-24
TEACHER CARLOS ÁVILA PALACIOS

Practical Laboratory Report #5:

Snell's Law
Summary—For Snell's law laboratory the experiment was I. THEORETICAL
divided into two parts. In the first part the air was medium 1 and
the prism was medium 2, and for the second part the opposite FRAMEWORK
happened. Having as a base a protractor printed on a sheet, on it
a semicircular prism and next to it a box of laser rays, through TO. PROPERTIES OF WAVES
these rays and making movements to the sheet, the variation of
the refraction of the ray when entering the prism was measured
in angles. . These angles obtained in both parts of the practice 1. REFLECTION
together with Snell's law allowed us to obtain Snell's refractive
index.

For the development of the practice of converging lenses, the

experiment was divided into two parts, in the first a lens with a
focal length of 5cm was used and in the second one with a focal
length equal to 10cm of lenses, the study of geometric optics was
carried out. , with the use of concave and convex lenses. The
general idea was to calculate, through experimental
measurement, the positions corresponding to the focal length,
that is, the location of the points where the reflected or refracted
rays converge, depending on the type of lens.

Keywords—Real image, virtual image, refractive index, concave
lenses, Snell's law, waves, focal point refraction.
Abstract—For Snell's law lab, the experiment was divided into
two parts. In the first the air was the middle 1 and the prism the
middle 2, and for the second part the opposite happened. Based
on a conveyor printed on a sheet, on it a semicircular prism and
to its side a box of lasers, through these rays and making
movements to the sheet was measured in angles the variation of
the refraction of the ray when entering the prism. These angles
obtained in both parts of the practice along with Snell's law
allowed us to obtain Snell's refractive index.
For the development of the practice of converging lenses, the
experiment was divided into two parts, the first one used a lens
with a focal length of 5cm and in the second one with a focal
distance equal to 10cm of lenses the study of geometric optics
was done, with the use of concave and convex lenses. The
general idea was to calculate by means of the experimental
measurement, the positions corresponding to the focal distance,
that is to say the location of the points where the reflected or
refracted rays converge, depending on the type of lens.
Index Terms—Concave lenses, focal point, real image,
refraction, refractive index, Snell law, virtual image, waves.
Figure 1: The angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence θ1 .
The angle of refraction θ2 is smaller than the angle of incidence if the
speed of light in the second medium is lower than that in the incident
medium. [1]
The angle θ between the normal and the ray of incidence is called
angle of incidence and the plane defined by both lines is called
the plane of incidence.
Law of reflection :
′
θ 1 = θ1 [1]
Equation 1
This law is valid for all types of waves.
2. REFRACTION
When a beam of light falls on the separation surface between
two media, part of the light energy is reflected and part enters the
second medium. If the incident light is not perpendicular to the
surface, then the transmitted light is not parallel to the incident
light. The change in the direction of the transmitted ray is called
refraction.
The ray entering the glass in Figure 1 is called the refracted ray
and the angle θ 2 is the angle of refraction. When
A wave crosses a limit at which its speed is reduced, as in the
case of light penetrating glass from air, the angle of refraction is
less than the angle of incidence, that is, the refracted ray
approaches the normal. On the other hand, if the ray hits the
glass and is refracted in the air, then the refracted ray moves
away from the normal. The angle of refraction depends on the
angle of incidence and the speed of the wave in the two
media. So if v is the wave speed in the medium
1
Unlike converging lenses, these are thinner in the central part than at
incidentand v in the transmitting medium, the the ends and are curved inwards. If we study the behavior of light
angles are when it passes through a concave lens, it deflects outward , that is, it
2 diverges, forming virtual images (they are not real images as in the
related as follows: case of converging lenses). In this case the image of the object that is
perceived is smaller and is located in front of the object.
1 1
v 1 sin θ 1 = v 2 sin θ 2 [1] An example of this type of lens is the one used in glasses used by
Equation 2 myopes, that is, people who have problems perceiving objects that
are further away. These lenses form the image of the object clearly
Depending on the refractive indices n, the equation takes the on the retina and not in front of it.
form:
n R sin (θ R ) = n i sin (θ i ) [1]
Equation 3

And this equation is known as Snell's Law of Refraction.

The speed of light in a transparent medium such as air, water or

3
glass is less than the speed c = 3 x 10 m / s in the
empty. A transparent medium is characterized by its refractive
index n, which is defined as the ratio between the speed of light
in a vacuum, c, and the speed of light in the medium, v. Figure 3: Concave lens. [2]

c 3. E QUATION OF THE LENSES

n=v [1]
Equation 4 The characteristic parameter of a lens is its focal length f', which
relates the distance s of the object to that of its image s' according
For water n=1.33, while for glass n varies from n=1.5 to 1.66
to the lens equation below:
depending on the type of glass. Diamond has a very high
refractive index, approximately 2.4. The air index is 1 1 1
approximately 1.0003, so that for most of the cases to be studied f ′ =s ′ + s
it can be approximated to 1, that is, a speed equal to the speed in Equation 5. Measurement of the focal length of a lens
a vacuum.
Figure 4 shows the path of some rays to explain the
B. LENSES formation of the image; In particular, three rays have been
drawn (two would have been enough to locate the image
1. CONVEX OR CONVERGING LENS formed):

This type of lens is thicker in the center than at the ends. When ➔ [1]: Ray parallel to the optical axis, which is refracted
light passes through the lens, it bends inward, that is, it passing through the image focus F'.
converges, forming an image of the object on a screen located on
the other side. The image of the object will be in focus as long as ➔ [2]: Ray that passes through the optical center of the
the distance between the object and the focus of the lens is lens and is not deflected.
adequate. An example of a convex or convex lens is the human ➔ [3]: Ray that falls on the lens passing through the
eye, which has the ability to change shape depending on whether object focus and emerges parallel.
it wants to focus on objects that are at one distance or another.
When we look at an object that is close, the slow motion
becomes thicker; On the contrary, when we look at an object that
is further away it becomes thinner. This occurs thanks to the eye
muscles, therefore, when they are not able to focus on nearby
objects we will say that there is farsightedness. A converging
lens forms a real, inverted image.

Figure 4: Scheme of image formation through a converging lens [3]

Note that the distance s in Figure 4 is positive because the object is

in the place from which the light comes, and that f' and s' are also
positive because they are on the side to which the light is directed.
The object and image planes are called conjugate planes, since
Figure 2: Convex lens [2] each point of the first corresponds to a point of the second. The
measurement of f' is based on determining the distance at which
2. CONCAVE OR DIVERGENT LENS the image of an object located at a given distance appears.
 II. ASSEMBLY AND PROCEDURE
EXPERIMENTAL

A. SNELL 'S LAW

Figure 7. Graphic representation of the phenomenon of sine of the

refracted angle vs sine of the incident angle for case 1.
Figure 5. Experimental setup corresponding to the Snell's law
experiment. Own source. Applying a linear regression to the data, the following equation
was obtained:
Materials:
=
sin ( θR ) = 1.4727 sin ( θi )−0.0002; r2 0.999
➔ laser beam box
➔ Sheet with drawn angles Equation 9. Model obtained through linear regression for case 1.
Correlation coefficient of the generated linear model.
➔ Prism
Slope = 1.472734735
Procedure:

For the Snell's Law experiment, a sheet with a stamped protractor Knowing that in this case:
marking the different angles within the circumference was placed
on the table. A semicircular prism was located on the blade that n i : Refractive index of the prism
would refract the rays projected by the laser beam box. Once the
entire assembly was completed, the laser beam box was turned on n R : Refractive index of air; n R = 1 n i
and the sheet was moved in order to measure the variation of the
Slope = n R
refraction of the beam in angles when entering it at a certain angle.
n i = Slope * n R
In the experiment it was divided into two parts, the first when the
air was medium 1 and the prism was medium 2, and the second It was possible to find the refractive index of the prism in case 1
when the prism was medium 1 and the air was medium 2. The
word medium refers to the space through which the laser beam n i = 1.472734735 * 1 ≃ 1.4727
will pass. The angle of incidence varied by 10° from 0° to 80°
depending on the clarity with which the outgoing ray will be From the experimental data in case 2, the following graph was
observed. constructed:

III. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS OF RESULTS A.

SNELL 'S LAW

To carry out the analysis of the practice of Snell's law, the incident
angle and refracted angle data taken in its development were used.
From the equation stated in Snell's law, we proceeded to solve it in
such a way that it could be expressed with a model that fits the
experimental data, obtaining the following:
n i
sin (θ R ) = sin (θ i )
n
R
Equation 8. Expression to obtain the sine of the refracted angle from
the difference between the refractive indices and the sine of the
incident angle.

As the refractive index is the ratio between the speed of light in a

vacuum and the speed of light in the medium, in the case of air, the
difference between these two is insignificant, they are given the Figure 8. Graphic representation of the phenomenon of sine of the
8
same value (3.8 x 10 m / s ) generating an n equal to 1. refracted angle vs sine of the incident angle for case 2.

From the experimental data in case 1, the following graph was Applying a linear regression to the data, the following equation
constructed: was obtained:
 =
sin ( θR ) = 0.6739 sin ( θi )−0.0027; r2 0.999
Equation 10. Model obtained through linear regression for case 2.
Correlation coefficient of the generated linear model.

Slope = 0.673946631

Knowing that in this other case:

n i : Refractive index of air; n i = 1

n
R : Refractive index of the prism
n neither
R =
Earring
It was possible to find the refractive index of the prism in case 2

n 1
R = 0,673946631 = 1, 483797015

nR ≃ 1, 4838
From the graphs previously exposed and the linear regression
models obtained, a directly proportional relationship between the
sine of the refracted angle and the sine of the incident angle is
evident, with the proportionality factor being the ratio between the
refractive indices. Simultaneously, a similarity is observed
between the results obtained through the two different setups used.

Throughout the development of the experiment, experimental

errors could be seen primarily in terms of the instrument for
measuring angles in degrees (protractor) due to its lack of
precision and its uncertainty of ±1 deg. In the same way, the beam
of light that was refracted had a considerably large thickness that
occupied several angles inside, increasing the uncertainty of its
exact measurement and leaving it up to the experimenters to record
the data that they observed was the most appropriate. .
In it
 IV. CONCLUSIONS
From the experiment of Snell's law it is concluded that the angle
of refraction depends on the medium through which the light
travels; more specifically, it depends on the speed with which light
travels through the medium, which in turn is directly related to the
refractive index. In the same way, it is stated that for any
case/assembly carried out in search of obtaining an experimental
value of the refractive index of the medium (in this case of the
prism) quite similar values are obtained, thus concluding that the
theoretical value should not be found very far from the values
obtained.

V. B IBLIOGRAPHY
[1] Tipler & Mosca (2005). Physics for science and technology.
Barcelona, Spain: Reverté.

[2] Physics, “Types of lenses”. Available at:

https://fisica.laguia2000.com/general/tipos-de-lentes

[3] Determination of the focal length of a lens, available at:

https://previa.uclm.es/profesorado/ajbarbero/CursoAB2007/Lentes
2001.pdf

[4] Posadas Chinchilla, Antonio Miguel. “Determination of

Errors and Data Processing”. University of Almeria. Available at:
https://w3.ual.es/~aposadas/TeoriaErrores.pdf