Concept explainers
Rainbows How is a rainbow formed? Recall that the index of refraction of a medium is slightly different for different colors. When white light from the Sun enters a spherical raindrop, as shown in Figure 22.25, the light is refracted, or bent. After reflecting off the back surface of the drop, the light is refracted again as it leaves the front surface.
Each drop separates the colors of light. An observer on the ground with her back to the Sun sees at most one color of light coming from a particular drop (see Figure 22.26). If the observer sees rod light from a drop (for example the top drop in Figure 22.26), the violet light for that same drop is deflected above her head However, if she sees violet light coming from a drop lower in the sky the red light from that drop is deflected below her eyes onto the ground. She sees red light when her line of view makes an angle of
58 Suppose that light entered one side of a square water droplet of refractive index 1.33 at an incident angle of
Some of the light reflects off the back surface and then goes back out on the same side as it entered What is the angle of refraction of light leaving the square droplet?
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College Physics
- Consider a horizontal interface between air above and glass of index of refraction 1.55 below. (a) Draw a light ray incident from the air at angle of incidence 30.0. Determine the angles of the reflected and refracted rays and show them on the diagram. (b) What If? Now suppose the light ray is incident from the glass at an angle of 30.0. Determine the angles of the reflected and refracted rays and show all three rays on a new diagram. (c) For rays incident from the air onto the airglass surface, determine and tabulate the angles of reflection and refraction for all the angles of incidence at 10.0 intervals from 0 to 90.0. (d) Do the same for light rays coming up to the interface through the glass.arrow_forwardLight in medium A undergoes a total internal reflection as it reaches the interface with medium B. Which of the following statements must be true (choose all that apply)? (a) nB nA (b) nB nA (c) All light rays that undergo a total internal reflection travel along the interface between the two materials. (d) Light traveling in the opposite direction, from B into A, cannot undergo a total internal reflection.arrow_forwardYou are working for a solar energy company. Your supervisor has asked you to investigate a new idea that has been proposed for a solar collector. A large sphere of glass focuses light on photocells, as shown in Figure P35.22. The photocells are moved by electronics along the curved track to the right of the sphere. Your supervisor would like to build a prototype of a material with index of refraction n, but needs for you to calculate the position at which the Suns rays focus and, therefore, to find where to locale the curved track. Figure P35.22arrow_forward
- A ray of light is incident at an angle 30.0 on a plane slab of flint glass surrounded by water. (a) Find the refraction angle. (b) Suppose the index of refraction of the surrounding medium can be adjusted, but the incident angle of the light remains the same. As the index of refraction of the medium approaches that of the glass, what happens to the refraction angle? (c) What happens to the refraction angle when the mediums index of refraction exceeds that of the glass?arrow_forwardUnreasonable results Suppose light travels from water to another substance, with an angle of incidence of 10.0and an angle of refraction of 14.9 . (a) What is the index of refraction of the other substance? (b) What is unreasonable about this result? (c) Which assumptions are unreasonable or inconsistent?arrow_forwardFigure P35.8 shows a refracted light beam in linseed oil making an angle of = 20.0 with the normal line NN The index of refraction of linseed oil is 1.48. Determine the angles (a) and (b) '.arrow_forward
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