Questions and Answers
What is the primary reason why rainbows appear on walls or floors at certain times of the day?
What is the main difference between refraction and reflection?
What is the angle between the incident ray and the normal line called?
What happens to the speed of a light wave when it travels from the medium of air to the medium of glass?
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What is the term for the imaginary line that is perpendicular to the surface?
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What is the result of refraction when a light wave passes from one medium to another?
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What is the purpose of the normal line in the diagram of refraction?
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What is the index of refraction of a medium?
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What happens to the light wave when it moves from a medium with a lower refractive index to a medium with a higher refractive index?
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What is the relationship between the angles of incidence and refraction according to Snell's Law?
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What is the effect of the index of refraction on the speed of light in a medium?
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What is the purpose of Snell's Law?
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If light travels from a slower medium to a faster medium, in what direction does it bend relative to the normal?
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What is the term used to describe media that refract different frequencies of light at different angles?
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Why does a prism separate white light into a rainbow?
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Which of the following is NOT an example of a dispersive medium?
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If light travels from air (slower medium) to water (faster medium), how would it bend?
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What is the phenomenon called when light waves of different frequencies are separated due to their different refractive angles?
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What is the relationship between the angle of incidence and the angle of refraction in Snell's Law?
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Which of these scenarios would result in light bending away from the normal?
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Study Notes
Rainbows and Refraction
- Rainbows can form indoors through prisms or certain transparent decorations.
- The phenomenon of rainbows indoors results from light refraction.
Refraction Basics
- Refraction is the bending of waves as they transition between different mediums.
- Light travels at different speeds in air and glass, causing this bending effect.
- Distinction between refraction and reflection:
- Reflection involves bouncing off a surface.
- Refraction involves movement into a new medium.
Angles of Incidence and Refraction
- Angle of incidence: The angle between the incoming light ray and the normal line.
- Angle of refraction: The angle between the refracted ray and the normal line.
- Normal line is perpendicular to the surface boundary.
Index of Refraction
- Index of refraction quantifies how light behaves in different mediums, calculated as n = c/v, where:
- c is the speed of light in a vacuum.
- v is the speed of light in the medium.
- Higher indices indicate that light travels slower in that medium.
- Refractive indices for common substances:
- Air: ~1.0003
- Water: ~1.3
- Diamond: 2.4
- Sapphire: 1.8
- Amber: 1.6
Snell's Law
- Snell's Law expresses the relationship between angles of incidence and refraction based on indices of refraction:
- nW/nA = sin(theta I)/sin(theta R), where:
- nW is the refractive index of the slower medium.
- nA is the refractive index of the faster medium.
- nW/nA = sin(theta I)/sin(theta R), where:
- When light moves from air to water, it bends toward the normal due to reduced speed.
Media and Dispersion
- Light always bends toward the normal when entering a slower medium and away from it in a faster medium.
- Dispersion occurs in dispersive media, which refracts different light frequencies at various angles.
- A prism separates white light into a spectrum of colors through varying refraction angles for each color, leading to the visible rainbow effect.
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Description
Learn about the formation of rainbows indoors through prisms or transparent decorations, and understand the basics of refraction, including the bending of light waves and its distinction from reflection.
