Question .1. State Snells law of refraction.

Snells law of refraction - The ratio of the sine of angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is always constant.

Question .2. The refractive index of air with respect to glass is defined as
g

a
= sin i / sin r
(i) Write down a similar expression for a g in terms of angle i and angle r.
(ii) In (i) above, if angle r = 90 what is the corresponding angle i called ?
(iii) What is the physical significance of i in part (ii) above ?

(i) The corresponding expression for
a

g
is
a

g
= sin r / sin i
(ii) The i for which r = 90 is called the critical angle of incidence. It is the angle of incidence for which the angle of refraction in
the rarer medium is 90. When the angle of incidence exceeds this angle, the incident ray is reflected back in the same medium
and does not get refracted into the second medium. This situation is referred to as the phenomenon of total internal reflection.

Question .3. What is meant by
(i) Critical angle
(ii) Total internal reflection.

(i) Critical angle The incident angle in the denser medium for which the angle of refraction in the rarer medium is 90 is called
the critical angle.
(ii) Total internal reflection When light travels from a denser to a rarer medium it bounces back into the denser medium under
suitable condition, this phenomena is called total internal reflection.

Question .4. Draw a ray diagram to illustrate how a ray of light incident obliquely on one face of a rectangular glass slab of
uniform thickness emerges parallel to its original direction. Mention which pairs of angles are equal.

For drawing consult a T. B.
(i) Angle of incidence is equal to the angle of emergent in the air.
(ii) Angle of refraction is equal to the angle of incidence in the glass.

Question .5. Water in a pond appears to be only three quarter of its actual depth.
(i) What property of light is responsible for this observation ?
(ii) Illustrate your answer with the help of a ray diagram.

(i) Refraction of light is responsible for this property. When light coming from denser medium inters rarer medium , it is bent
away from the normal.
(ii) For ray diagram consult a T. B.

Question .6. (i) With the help of a well labelled diagram show that the apparent depth of an object, such as a coin, in water
is less than its real depth.
(ii) How is the refractive index of water related to the real depth and the apparent depth of a column of water ?

i) For diagram consult a T. B.
(ii) The refractive index is related to the real depth and the apparent depth as,
= Real depth / Apparent depth.

Question .8. What is an optical fibre ? Give one practical use of an optical fibre.

An optical fibre is a fibre of diameter of the order of 2 m, made of glass plastic. It ia made of a high refractive index core
surrounded by a low refractive coating called cladding. It is widely used for communication purposes.

Question .9. Explain briefly what causes the twinkling of stars at night.

Light coming from the stars passes through the different layers of the atmosphere. There are random variation in the refractive
index of the different layers of the atmosphere. Due to this there is random variation in the path of the refracted light coming from
the stars. The light of a particular star , therefore, seems to change direction often thereby showing the twinkling of that star.

Question .10. What is meant by the statement, the critical angle for diamond is 24 ? How is the critical angle of the
material related to its refractive index ?

When the light ray passing from diamond to air , incident at the boundary at an angle of incidence equal to 24, it is refracted
along the boundary surface i.e. the angle of refraction becomes 90. As, the sine of the critical angle is equal to the reciprocal of
the refractive index of that material i.e. sinic = 1/.
Question .11. A glass slab is placed over a page on which the word VIBGYOR is printed with each letter in its
corresponding colour.
(i) Will the image of all the letters be in the same place ?
(ii) If not, state which letter will be raised to the maximum. Give a reason for your answer.

i) No, the images of letters of different colours will be raised by slightly different heights.
(ii) The letter, V, corresponding to the violet colour will be raised to the maximum. As, = real depth / apparent depth . Now is
maximum for the violet colour and apparent depth would , therefore, be the least. Hence the violet colour (V) would be raised to
the maximum.

Question .12. What is meant by refraction ?

The phenomenon in which the path of a ray of light changes when it moves from one medium to another is called refraction.

Question .13. Express the refractive index of a medium
(i) in terms of the velocity of light;
(ii) in terms of the angle of incidence i in air and the angle of refraction r in a denser medium.

(i) = velocity of light in vacuum / velocity of light in medium.
(ii) = sin i / sin r.


Question .14. If a ray of light passes from medium I to medium II without any change of direction, what can be said about
the refractive indices of these media (angle i is not 0) ?

These two media have the same refractive index.

Question .15. Mention two properties of a wave: one property which varies and the other which remains constant when the
wave passes from one medium to another.

(i) Wavelength and
(ii) Frequency.


Question .16. A prism deviates a monochromatic ray of light through an angle when the angle of incidence on the
surface of the prism is i:
(i) Draw a diagram showing the variation of with i. On your graph show the angle of minimum deviation.
(ii) What is the relation between the angle of incidence and the angle of emergence when the ray suffers minimum
deviation ?

(i) For diagram contact a T. B.
(ii) In the position of minimum deviation, the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of emergence


Question .17.Mention one difference between reflection of light from a plane mirror and total internal reflection of light
from a prism.


Refection of light from a plane mirror Total internal reflection of light from a prism
1. The reflection of light incident on the mirror
takes place for all angles of incidence.
1. The incident ray is first refracted and then
suffers total reflection from the other face only, if
light is incident at an angle greater than the critical
angle.
2. A lot of light energy is absorbed in ordinary
reflection.
2. No light is absorbed during total internal
reflection.