Refraction of waves

Question 1

Drawing a ray diagram

Answer 1

1) Draw the boundary between your two materials and the normal.
2) Draw the incident ray that meets the normal at the boundary.
3) Measure the angle using a protractor.
4) Draw the refracted ray that meets the normal at the other boundary.
5) If the second material is denser than the first, the angle of refraction is smaller than the angle of incidence.
6) If the second material is less dense than the first, the angle of refraction is larger than the angle of incidence.

Question 2

Rays passing through a glass block are refracted twice

Answer 2

1) Shine a light ray into a glass block
2) Some of the light is reflected, but a lot of it passes through the block and gets refracted, too.
3) Trace the incident and emergent rays onto a piece of paper and remove the block.
4) Draw the refracted ray by joining the 2 lines.
5) The light will bend towards the normal when it passes through a more dense medium because it slows down.
6) The light will bend away from the normal when it passes through a less dense medium because it speeds up.
7) The light is now travelling the same direction it was to begin with but has been refracted towards the normal and then back again by the same amount.

Question 3

Triangular Prisms disperse white light

Answer 3

Different wave lengths of light refract by different amounts, so white light (a mixture of ROYGBIV) disperses into its different colours because the angle of refraction is different for each.