ADANI PUBLIC

SCHOOL
Mundra

Physics Investigatory Project

Bodhisatwa Ray
Session- 2024-
2025
 CERTIFICATE
OF APPRECIATION
THIS IS TO PROUDLY CERTIFY THAT

Bodhisatwa Ray
Presently studying in class XII Science of Adani Public School - Mundra,
has successfully completed the PHYSICS PROJECT entitled - “Finding
refractive index of various liquids using hollow prism”under guidance of
Mr. Muktinath Singh(Sir), during acadamic year 2024-25, as the part of
curriculum and submission for CBSE practical examination.
All the work related to project has been done by the candidate himself
and the progress has been reported consistently.

Muktinath Singh Dr. Mayur Patadia

(PHYSICS EXTERNAL (PRINCIPAL)
TEACHER) EXAMINER
 Student details

CBSE Roll No.

Class XII B (Sci.)

Bodhisatwa Ray
School Roll No. 05
 Acknowledgment
I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude and sincere thanks to Dr Mayur Patadia (Principal) of Adani
Public School for his encouragement and all the facilities that they provided to carry out this project
work.

I express my sincere thanks to Mr Muktinath Singh, for his guidance leading to the successful completion of this project. I take this
opportunity to express my overwhelming gratitude for the priceless guidance, constant encouragement, valuable insights, and
unwavering motivation.

And lastly I cannot forget to offer a sincere thanks to my classmates too, who supported me to
carry out this experiment successfully.

Bodhisatwa ray
 Index

Sr No. Topics Pg No.

1. Introduction 1
2. Aim 2
3. Apparatus Required 2
4. Theory 3
5. Procedure 9
6. Observation Table 12
7. Calculation 14
8. Result 14
9. Precautions 15
10. Source of Error 16
11. Bibliography 16
 -INTRODUCTION-
• A prism is a transparent optical element with flat, polished
surfaces that refracts light.

• Prisms can be made from any material that is transparent

including glass, plastic and fluorite.

• A prism can be used to break light up into its constituent

spectral colours. Prisms can also be used to reflect light, or to
s p l i t l i g h t i n t o c o m p o n e n t s w i t h d i ff e r e n t p o l a r i z a t i o n .

• As the ray of light is incident on the surface of the prism, it

w i l l u n d e rg o d i s p e r s i o n a n d d e v i a t i o n .

• The change in the path of the monochromatic light as it passes

through the prism is called deviation.
 -AIM OF EXPERIMENT-
To find the refractive index of various liquids using hollow prism

-APPARATUS REQUIRED-

Drawing Board Sharp Pencil Various Liquids

A4 Sheets Protractor Board Pins

Hollow Glass Prism Ruler / Scale Eraser

 -THEORY-
A prism is a glass object, has bases that are polygons and other faces that are parallelograms. A prism works by bending light
when it passes through the glass. The bending of light depends on the angle and the wavelength of the light. When white light
passes through a prism, it separates into different colours because each colour has a different wavelength and bends at a
different angle, and the phenomenon responsible behind the bending of lights is known as refraction.

The two plane surfaces are called refracting faces and the line along which the two surfaces meet is called the refracting edge
of the prism.

The angle between the two refracting surface is called the angle of the prism. Usually, the angle of prism is equal to 60º.

When a ray of light is inclined on one refracting face of the prism, it enters the prism after refraction at the first place. Then,
the ray of light emerges out of the prism after refraction at its second refracting face.
WHAT IS REFRACTIVE INDEX?
• ‘The refractive index of a medium is the ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum
to its speed in that medium’.

• It is a dimensionless quantity that indicates the optical density of a medium and

the refraction of light. The more optically dense a material is, the slower the
speed of light.

• The formula for calculating the refractive index is :

n=c/v

• Where ‘n’ is the refractive index, ‘c’ is the velocity of light in a vacuum (3×10^8
m/s), and ‘v’ is the velocity of light in any other medium. The refractive index is
a number that indicates the number of times slower than a light wave would be
in the material than it is in a vacuum. The refractive index of different media
varies.
• It is important to note that the refractive index does not changes because
of the change in temperature, it changes because of a change in density. A
higher temperature means the liquid becomes less dense and less viscous,
causing light to travel faster in the medium. If density is kept the same
while temperature changes (e.g., by varying applied pressure), then there
is no change in refractive indices.

• . ‘The ratio of the velocity of light in vacuum to the velocity of the light in
the medium is called absolute refractive index of the medium’.

• The refractive index of a medium depends on the following factors:

1.The nature of the media
2.The wavelength of the incident light
 SNELL’S LAW
The phenomenon of refraction takes place according to the following two laws: -

1.The incident ray, the refracted ray and the normal to the surface at the point of incidence all lie in
one plane.
2.For any two given pair of media, the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the
angle of refraction is a constant.

This constant is denoted by ‘μ’ and is called the relative refractive index of one medium with
respect to other medium.

Snell’s law is defined as “The ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of
refraction is a constant, for the light of a given colour and for the given pair of media”.

Snell’s law formula is expressed as:

sin ⁡i/sin⁡r = constant = μ
 COMPONENTS OF PRISM
Let’s say if a ray of light is incident on the refracting face of the prism.
According to the laws of refraction, at the point of incidence the ray of light
bends towards the normal. The refracted ray again suffers refraction on the
second refracting face and emerges out of the prism away from the normal.

As you can observe from the given figure, the ray of light deflects its path
after entering the prism at an angle ‘i’ (angle of incidence) and leaving the
prism at angle ‘e’ (angle of emergence) and ‘δ’ is the angle of deviation
formed due to the change in the path of light.

Variations in angle of deviation with angle of incidence ie angle ofdeviation

produced by a prism depends on :
-Diagramatic Representation of Prism-
1.) Angle of prism
2.) Material of prism
3.) The angle of incidence
Using the diagram, we can infer the following-

Now, we know that : ∠ A+ ∠ δ = ∠ i + ∠ e

( In the case of minimum deviation ∠ I

= ∠ e and ∠ δ = ∠δm )

Now, from Snell's Law

 -PROCEDURE-
• Fill up a hollow prism with an experimental fluid, cover the hole with a cover slip and seal with the
help of plasticine. Wipe off the excess liquid with the help of a clean cloth or a tissue paper.

• Take a white sheet of paper and fix it on the drawing board with the help of drawing pins. Draw a
line XX’ near the middle of the paper parallel to its length

• Place the liquid filled prism of the sheet of paper as shown in the figure along the line XX’ and
draw its boundary ABC with the help of a sharp pencil

• Mark a point F on side BA, slightly above the mid-point towards A. Draw a perpendicular NFN’ on
the line AB and then draw a line EF making and angle of 30° with the line NF.

• Fix a pin P1 vertically on the line EF close to the point F and another pin Q1 at a distance more
than 5-7 cm from pin P1 on line EF.
• Fix a pin P1 vertically on the line EF close to the point F and another pin Q1 at a distance more
than 5-7 cm from pin P1 on line EF.
• Observe the pins P1 and Q1through face AC of the prism. Aligning with the image of pins P1 and
Q1 , insert a third pin P2 and then a fourth pin Q2 in line with the images of pins P1 and Q1. in this
situation, the tips of pins P2 and Q2 should be in line with the images of pins P1 and Q1. ie tips of
pins P2 and Q2 would cover the tips of images of pins P1 and Q1 so formed.

• Remove the prism and draw a line joining the pin of P2 and Q2 so that it meets side AC at point
G.Draw a normal at point G on side AC as N2. Normal NF and N’G when produced meet at a point
I and EF and GH when produced meet at J. Measure the angle of deviation delta as angle HJK.

• Repeat this for different angles of incidences.

• Empty the prism. Clean it with a clean cloth or tissue paper and repeat the experiment for 2-3
different liquids.
 -Diagramatic Representation-

-Notations Used-
𝛿 = angle of deviation
Ray EF = incident
i = angle of incidence N = normal on
ray
e = angle of emergence face AB
Ray FG =
r = angle of refraction refracted ray N’ = normal on
 -OBSERVATION-
Water
Sr No. Angle of prism Incidence Angle Deviaton
1 60° 35° 25°
2 60° 40° 24°
3 60° 45° 23°
4 60° 50° 25°
5 60° 55° 27°
6 60° 60° 30°

Vineger
Sr No. Angle of prism Incidence Angle Deviaton
1 60° 35° 26°
2 60° 40° 25°
3 60° 45° 23.5°
4 60° 50° 28°
5 60° 55° 29°
6 60°
6 60° 60° 31°
 Glycerine
Sr No. Angle of prism Incidence Angle Deviaton
1 60° 35° 41°
2 60° 40° 38°
3 60° 45° 36°
4 60° 50° 35°
5 60° 55° 36°
6 60° 60° 39°

Vegetable Oil
Sr No. Angle of prism Incidence Angle Deviaton
1 60° 35° 49°
2 60° 40° 41°
3 60° 45° 38°
4 60° 50° 34°
5 60° 55° 37°
6 60°
6 60° 60° 38°
 - -RESULT-
CALCULATIONS-
• Refractive Indices of Liquids • From the observation table it can be inferred
that, initially with increase in angle of
incidence, angle of deviation deviation
decreases to attain minimmum deviation. And
then again starts to increase.

• It is seen that two different angle of

incidences can have same angle of deviation.

• We have obtained the desired result of

refractive indices using a hollow prism.
 -PRECAUTIONS-
• The boundary of the prism, incident ray and emergent ray should be drawn
with a sharp pencil.
• The angle of incident during various observations should lie between and .

• The distance between the pins should be at least 5-7 cm.

• The pins should be vertical.

• While fixing the pins, their feet should be brought in one line. During fixing
the pins, if the prism gets distributed by chance, it should be brought back to its
marked boundary.
• The arrowheads should be drawn so as to indicate the directions of the
incident, refracted and emergent rays.
• The angle of deviation should be measured with the protractor carefully and so
accurately as possible.
 -SOURCES OF ERROR-
• The distance between the pins may be small.
• The pins may not have been fixed vertically.
• The feet of the pins may not be in the line.
• The angle of deviation may not have been measured correctly.

-BIBLIOGRAPHY-
• Google

• Wikipedia

• NCERT Physics book class XII

• Lab manual class XII

THANK YOU
By- Bodhisatwa Ray