Questions

1. What is the relationship between the angle of incidence and the angle of refraction"

The angle of incidence (formed by the ray of light travelling though air into a slab of rectangular perspex) is not directly proportional to the angle of refraction (angle formed between the ray travelling though perspex and the normal). The graph of the plotted angles of incidence against the angles of refraction is not a straight line and therefore demonstrates this. However, a constant can be found by the formula sin i / sin r which is the specific refractive index for a particular medium eg. glass. Once the refractive index of a certain medium is known, the angle of refraction can be calculated if the angle of incidence and known and vice versa. The denser the medium, the larger the refractive index. Usually, the angle of...