Reflection and Refraction EX-9987

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Lab Report: Reflection and Refraction

Name: Sample Data and Answers
DATA PROCEDURE A:
Bouncing Light off a Flat Mirror

FLAT MIRROR
Angle of Incidence
Angle of Reflection
r
i
24
23
45
45
63
63

Written by Cecilia A. Hernndez

2010

Reflection and Refraction EX-9987

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DATA PROCEDURE B:
Bouncing Light off a Concave Mirror

CONCAVE MIRROR
Angle of Incidence
Angle of Reflection
r
i
18
18.5
45
45
64
66

Written by Cecilia A. Hernndez

2010

Reflection and Refraction EX-9987

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DATA PROCEDURE C:
Bouncing Light off a Convex Mirror

CONVEX MIRROR
Angle of Incidence
Angle of Reflection
r
i
33
32
44
45
62
60

Written by Cecilia A. Hernndez

2010

Reflection and Refraction EX-9987

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DATA PROCEDURE D:
The Bending of Light by Refraction

REFRACTION:

Calculated Index of Refraction,

INTERFACE 1 From air into acrylic

nacrylic

1.33

INTERFACE 2 From acrylic into air

Incident angle

Refracted angle

Incident angle

Refracted angle

(in air)

(in acrylic)

(in acrylic)

(in air)

21

14

16

21

45

32

32

41

63

40

41

63

Written by Cecilia A. Hernndez

2010

Reflection and Refraction EX-9987

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PROCEDURE D:

sin acrylic
REFRACTION Plot of sin air versus
from DataStudio, with the Linear Fit.

Written by Cecilia A. Hernndez

2010

Reflection and Refraction EX-9987

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DATA PROCEDURE E: Observing Dispersion

Written by Cecilia A. Hernndez

2010

Reflection and Refraction EX-9987

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DISPERSION
At the Dispersion Interface
(Light traveling from acrylic into air.)

Index of Refraction of Acrylic

Incident angle

Refracted angle

acrylic

(in air)

20

Written by Cecilia A. Hernndez

RED light

BLUE light

red

blue

26.3

27.9

2010

For RED light

For BLUE light

1.30

1.37

Reflection and Refraction EX-9987

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QUESTIONS PROCEDURES A, B, C: Bouncing Light off Mirrors

1. According to the Law of Reflection, the incident angle and the reflection angle must be the
same. Discuss: How well does your experiment show this? Does it matter whether the
reflective surface is flat or curved? Why?

The results were very good, all angles where either the same or
off by just one or half a degree. It does not matter if the surface is
curved. The law of reflection seems to be valid for all surfaces.
This is because no matter the surface, the light strikes at a single
point and reflection happens for all surfaces out of a point.

2. What are sources of experimental uncertainty for this part of the experiment?

The beam of light has a certain thickness and it is hard to decide

which side of the beam to trace. It is also hard to always shine the
light exactly at the same point on the mirrors.

QUESTIONS PROCEDURE D: The Bending of Light by Refraction

8
Note: The speed of light in a vacuum is 3.0 10 m/s .

1. Calculate the speed at which light travels inside acrylic.

For a calculated index of refraction of 1.33,

v= c/n = (3.0 x 108 m/s)/1.33 = 2.26 x 108 m/s
2. Look at Interface 1: When traveling from air into acrylic, did the refracted ray bent toward or
away from the normal line? It bent toward the normal inside the acrylic.

Written by Cecilia A. Hernndez

2010

Reflection and Refraction EX-9987

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3. Look at Interface 2: When traveling from acrylic into air, did the refracted ray bent toward or
away from the normal line? It bent away from the normal when it

entered the air.

Written by Cecilia A. Hernndez

2010

Reflection and Refraction EX-9987

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QUESTIONS PROCEDURE E: Observing Dispersion

Note: Red light is the low frequency, long wavelength end of the visible spectrum. Blue light, in
comparison, has higher frequency and shorter wavelength.

1. Calculate the speed at which red light travels through acrylic.

For a calculated index of refraction of 1.30,

vred= c/n = (3.0 x 108 m/s)/1.30 = 2.31 x 108 m/s

2. Calculate the speed at which blue light travels through acrylic.

For a calculated index of refraction of 1.37,

vred= c/n = (3.0 x 108 m/s)/1.37 = 2.19 x 108 m/s

3. Which bent more toward the normal, red light or blue light? The red light bent

more toward the normal.

4. For which color light is the index of refraction higher, for red light or for blue light? The

blue light had the higher index of refraction.

5. Compare the indexes of refraction of red and blue light to the index of refraction of acrylic
calculated in Procedure D, where dispersion was not considered.

For red, 1.30.

For blue, 1.37.

Written by Cecilia A. Hernndez

2010

Reflection and Refraction EX-9987

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For white light the value determined was 1.33, which is

somewhere in the middle between the values for red and for blue.

6. Conclusions:

The higher the frequency of the light, the slower the speed through the medium.

The higher the frequency of the light, the higher the index of refraction of the
medium.

The faster the beam of light through a medium, the lower the index of refraction.

The faster the beam of light through a medium, the more it deflects toward the
normal upon refraction.

Written by Cecilia A. Hernndez

2010